the I in the FBI
by WriterKos
Summary: How the street urchin who stole Joseph's wallet in a train station became Joy Buchanan. Pre-series. Story 13 in the Buchanan series. Part 01/02   Please see warnings and Author's notes. LAST CHAPTER IS UP!
1. FBI raid

_**Title: the I in the FBI**_  
Author: WriterKos  
Rating: M  
Parings: McGee/OFC  
Characters: McGee, OC, the whole Gang from NCIS some from Criminal Minds, with light mention of Jack O'Neill (SG1).  
Genres: Pre-Series, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Family, a whole lot of other stuff.  
Summary: How the street urchin who stole Joseph's wallet in a train station became Joy Buchanan. Pre-series. Part of the Buchanan series.

_**VERY IMPORTANT**_

_**Warnings**_: Violence and curse words. Bullying in School and child torture is going to be mentioned ahead. I don't know exactly how graphic it will be yet, but it will be at least mentioned. You've been warned. A very healthy dose of Supernatural intervention is going to be mentioned as well, so if you do not believe in God, Angels and Demons this type of stuff, it's your choice. If you do not like reading things about these themes, turn around now. Let your fingers do the walking.

A/n 1: This story happens approximately twenty two years before the story _**A Geek walks into a Bar**_. It is a very detailed study of chapter two, three and four of that fic. It will make sense only if you are familiar with the Joy Buchanan series.

A/n 2: For now, there will be a bunch of shows which I'll do a crossover with. Mainly with **_Criminal Minds_** (Jason Gideon will be huge character of the fic), but some characters from **_SG1_** (Specially Jack O'Neill and family) will also do a small gracious appearance. I don't know about other shows yet, but so far, these two.

A/n 3: I'm finally going to delve into Joy's past and start an arch about her scars. There are two stories planned to unveil them, and believe me, if you guys have been following the series, this will be as heartbreaking as the Jarod's Arch in**_ Connecting the dots_** and **_The Gathering_**. So, buckle up, and get ready to delve into _the Pit_.

_a/n 4: Noraque, you asked for an explanation for Joy's scars in a long, dark and engaging story. This one is dedicated to you._

* * *

_**Chapter 1: FBI raid**_

_There is no good or evil. Just power and those weak enough to seek it. – __**J. K. Rowling**_

_**11 February 1987 * (SEE FOOTNOTE)  
Outskirts of Detroit, MI.**_

The cars slowly drove up the path to the main house, the lights turned off not to tip the inhabitants of their impending doom. The heavily armed guards at the entrance of the property had been subdued by the assault team, and now they slowly advanced towards their goal.

The task force, assembled with FBI, local and state police officers, stopped their cars just on a corner before the main compound, and slowly left their vehicles and waited for the order to strike.

For the last five months, they had been investigating the dealings of Mr. Swanson and his cronies in the underground of Detroit ghettos, and they had gathered enough surveillance tapes to fill a storage room from top to bottom in the local PD. The charges ranged from human trafficking, extortion, corruption, money laundering and prostitution.

He had been very careful in his dealings, always setting up one of his left or right hands to take the fall if they were caught. He had nothing listed in his own name, but he lived as an Indian Pasha with servants, maids and security guards at his reach in a glorious property with more security than the Fort Knox.

But the FBI had had a breakthrough three weeks before, when they intercepted a van in a routine checkpoint and found three bound and drugged young women in the back of the van. The driver, when interrogated, panicked and revealed that they were merchandise requested for a party. After that, intense investigations lead them to find out who was the organizer of the party, none other than Mr. Swanson himself.

As they say, after that breakthrough, the rest is history.

Karl Lindenberg, SSA of the Violent Crimes Section in Detroit for the FBI, softly whispers in his walk talkie as he orders everyone to their position.

"Can you see movement in the house, Eagle Four?"

Pietro Lorenzetti, Lindenberg's partner in the FBI, studies the constant moves of the watch guards doing patrol around the main house. He looks through his binoculars and counts the guards, and lifts a little his arm, so he can see the movement of the people inside the house. He counts nine guards doing rounds on the main house, and some movement by the water pound, two people by a small pier in the back. There are four people talking inside the house, and he can clearly see Swanson with his back turned to the big windows, smoking and talking with a very nervous guy in a white jacket.

"There are four inside, two by the pound and so far, I've counted nine outside. There are probably more, Eagle one."

"Can you see our target?"

Pietro squints on the binoculars, and studies Swamson's face as he turns around to face the big windows, blowing gray smoke.

"Affirmative, Eagle one."

He frowns as he sees the other two men going behind the nervous guy in a white jacket, and grabbing by his arms and twisting it behind his back. Swanson draws a weapon from inside of his velour vest.

"Shit is about to happen, go go GO!" Pietro whispers desperately in his walk talkie.

The agents rush in formation towards the house, the strike team taking by storm the guards, and slowly advancing in the house towards the room upstairs where the assassination was about to happen.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Do you believe in the power of evil, Mr. Johnson?"

A soft educated voice whispers in the room, as the two thugs grab Mr. Johnson's arms and painfully twist behind back and he groans.

"I believe in power, whether it is evil or not, it depends on how it is used. And you, Swanson, don't have any idea that your reign of terror is about to end."

The man by the window turns his head to the side, and makes a flick of his wrist. One of the thugs walks around the bound man, leaving him in the hands of the other one, and hits Johnson in the stomach with a vicious punch, leaving him breathless. His knees falter, but the thug holding him by his arms doesn't let him fall to the floor, forcing him to keep standing and almost pulling his arms from its sockets.

"Ah, and you are so sure of that just because those silly church rats told you that."

Mr. Johnson lets his head fall to his chest, wheezing in pain. He knows his life is forfeit, but he will speak his mind to the powerful crime lord.

"No, not because they told me that, but because they showed me that even the great Swanson is not invincible. You got too greedy. They are protected, man. I've sent killers, robbers and even hookers. It is crazy, as every time one of our people gets closer to one of them, something happens, and they escape at the very last moment. It's almost like they are protected by a higher force or something. Some kind of power that I can't fight against to. Neither can you. You ruled for too long but nobody controls everything all the time. One time you will slip, somewhere you will lose control, and the castle of cards you are building will crumble down. And I'll laugh my ass off that you fell just because you messed up with those idiots."

Swanson turns around with a gun on his hand, and advances menacingly towards the bound man.

"We are at war here," says Swanson, grabbing Johnson's hair and lifting him to stare into his face. "Just because you do not believe in the power of my Masters, just because you can not see it or feel it, it doesn't make it less real."

Johnson spits blood which promptly spoils the impeccable ironed trousers Swanson is wearing. He receives a slap for that.

"The Masters dwell everywhere, their power is immeasurable. There are those who fight it, but soon they are corrupted by the Masters' powers and they fall from grace. Once they fall, they are ours for the taking. And those silly church-going idiots think that they can fight against my will. That property is on my way, and even if I have to run it down with bulldozers, I'll do it."

"They won't sell it. It has belonged to the church for the last forty years, and they won't give it up for you. I told you that."

Swanson nods, and runs the gun softly over Johnson's cheek, who whimpers in fear.

"Yes, you did. But you failed in convincing them to leave that property so I could own the whole neighborhood and build my shopping mall, so," Mr. Swanson moves the gun so it is pointed directly between the eyes of Mr. Johnson, "I don't like failure. Neither do my Masters. Send my greetings to them when you meet them face to face in Hell."

David Johnson, murderer, crook and all around bastard, stares at the barrel of the gun about to end his life and does something that he hasn't done since he was a little boy wearing short pants. He prays. He prays to a God long forgotten, but after staying three weeks following those crazy church going and Bible studying people, seeing them happy and enjoying their lives in simple pleasures, it finally made him realize how empty his life had been for so long and how much he misses those simple mornings when he went with his Nana to the Sunday school, when life seemed so simpler, without assassinations on the breakfast menu.

_God, if you really exist, I don't expect you to save me or forgive me on the very last minute, but at least say I'm sorry to my Nana and tell her that I miss her, _he whispers in his mind.

_Finally_, a voice whispers in his ear, and he frowns, as time seems to slow down as a blow by blow picture. _I've been waiting for you to come back to My Arms for a long time, David. Will you repent of your sins?_

_God?_

_Will you?_

He sees Swanson putting his finger on the trigger and getting ready to shoot him. He gulps as he hears the voice again.  
_  
Will you?_

_Yes._

The study doors burst open a bunch of men in tactical suits enter the room with guns pointed to the standoff.

"FREEZE! FBI!"

Shots are heard, and screams soon follow them.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The takeover of the big main compound is done without losses to the strike team. They arrest fifteen people, stop a murder about to happen in the main study, and also have the pleasure of putting a bullet in Swanson. Unfortunately, the bastard doesn't die, and is taken to the hospital still alive. A curious fact is the about-to-be murdered crook that, once he sees the FBI clad men, starts laughing and praising God for their interference.

Lindenberg and Lorenzetti just stare confused at the man laughing hysterically, who identifies himself as David Johnson, one of the main hit killers of Swanson's organization. And promptly offers to give all information they might want about it.

"And you're just going to collaborate with us."

Johnson wipes relief tears from his cheeks, and looks happily at the Feds.

"Yes, I will."

"No bargaining for a deal, or such."

"No need to. I just got the biggest deal of my whole life."

Lindenberg looks at Lorenzetti, who just shrugs, "He's talking, keep guards around him and get all the info you can from him. I'm going to the back to see how the other teams are pulling up."

"Ok, Mister I-got-a-second-chance, please follow me," Lorenzetti grabs the man by his handcuffed arm and guides him out of the room.

Lindenberg leaves the big house, and looks around the movement of cops arresting the people in the other buildings of the property, dragging them to the vans parked at the entrance of the property. There is a faint movement of ambulances as well, as they take the wounded and dead guards away.

He walks further towards the garden, and stares at the dark blue sky with tiny sparkling dots.

"What now?"

_The Pit._

Lindenberg looks around, certain that someone whispered something on his ear, but there is no one close enough to speak to him. And the voice doesn't sound as anyone he knows.

"Anyone there?"

_The Pit._

He turns to the right and his sharp eyes sees three cops struggling with the two people they found by the pound a couple of yards further down the backyard. He walks towards the confusion, and sees that they are young women, barely in their twenties, dressed in what he could see were very diaphanous dresses, almost roman like, completely inadequate to the freezing February chill.

"What's the problem here, officer?"

"They refuse to leave the pound. They say that they are waiting for an answer. But they are as high as a kite."

Lindenberg walks towards one of the girls, with pale skin and sunken black eyes. Her eyes are glazed, and she is clearly under narcotics influence. Her lackluster black hair hangs limply around her face down to her back, and she has several needle marks in her arms.

Lindenberg grabs her chin firmly, and forces her to look into his face. She blinks lazily, but her gaze doesn't fixes in his.

"Hey, kid, look at me."

"We don't have the answer. We must not leave the Pit."

He frowns, as he thinks about the voice in his head some seconds before.

"Pit?"

The girl turns her head to look at the filthy water pound, covered with water plants and with a certain decaying smell wafting from it.

"We seek answers. We must have them."

"Listen, kid. Swanson is arrested. He can't use you or drug you anymore. You guys are safe now."

The girl fixes her eyes into his, and Lindenberg feels a chill. Her blue eyes look dead. There is no soul behind them.

"We won't leave. You have the Master, but our Masters have yet to answer. We won't leave."

He looks at the cop holding the young woman upright, "You're right, they are drugged. But I think they were brainwashed as well. Take them from here."

The other girl starts struggling against her captors, "We can't let the Servant alone. It's not how it's done. We have to wait."

That freezes Lindenberg, who stares at the other girl, another brunette, this one with steel gray eyes staring at him with no expression.

"Servant? Where's the Servant?"

Both girls turn their eyes to the pound, staring at its murky waters lifelessly. Lindenberg feels a terrifying chill going up his spine, as he turns to the dark waters, and he sees some bubbles coming from somewhere underneath.

"You're saying that's there's someone down _there_?" He asks in an incredulous voice.

"It's the Servant's tasks to consult our Masters for answers to the Master," says the first girl, her blue eyes staring into his face as piercing knives, her voice tone as a teacher giving a lecture to a child.

"How long has she or he been down there?" he asks in a stressed out voice, already freaking out.

"Five, seven minutes. She's not allowed to come up until They give an answer."

"Call the paramedics," shouts Lindenberg, as he takes his overcoat and shoes, getting ready to jump in the freezing waters. He runs on the board walk until he is over the dark waters and does a perfect dive, sinking beside the place where he saw some bubbles coming out.

He tries opening his eyes under the water, but the darkness in there is absolute. He waves his hand in front of him, trying desperately trying to find something, anything underneath. His ears start ringing, his lungs burning to breathe, but he doesn't dare to inhale any of the filthy water.

He turns back to the surface, and breathes desperately trying to recover enough for another dive. His teeth are clenching with cold, but he won't give up. He looks towards the pound shore, and sees some policemen over there.

"I need light in here! Bring me light!" he shouts desperately.

He looks around, seeking somewhere where bubbles can be seen. The cops on the shore light up some strong spotlights, illuminating the surface of the pound.

He looks around again, and sees some faint bubbles to his right. He takes a deep breath, and dives again.

The same darkness of before is spotted with faint rays of light, giving him some idea of what is right before him, he keeps swimming downwards, seeking, looking for something.

He spots something in white moving close to the bottom, and despite his lungs screaming at him, he keeps swimming until his right hand runs against something. Hair, long strains of hair, human hair in his fingers. He pulls it and he is face to face with a doll like face, the mocha skin almost yellow, and eyes tightly shut. He takes her by her arm, and she immediately opens her eyes, and he is shocked to see the most expressive brown eyes he has ever seen looking right back at him. She blinks and frowns, and he almost can hear her asking _What are you doing here _before he grabs her in his arms and starts swimming towards the surface.

He sticks his head out of the water, and the little girl throws her arms around his neck and relaxes her little body against his chest. He faintly hears the shouts of the cops on the shore with his water filled ears, but he keeps his precious bundle firmly against his chest until he reaches the shore.

He drags himself to the land, and he almost shouts as he feels his precious cargo taken from his arms. He coughs as he sees the men trying desperately trying to work on her unresponsive body, lying lifelessly over a blanket someone brought to them.

He wipes his mouth and approaches the little girl and pushes one of the cops working on her, and hovers over her. Her lips are purple, her skin looks like a prune, such was the time she stayed underwater. She wasn't breathing.

"Ah, no."

He immediately starts applying CPR, the image of those brown eyes haunting his mind.

"You are not going to die, little one."

His partner arrives to see the commotion, and he brings with him Lindenberg's overcoat.

"Come on. COME ON!"

The little girl starts coughing, spouting dirty water out of her mouth. Immediately Lindenberg turns her and puts her in the recovery position, opens her mouth and cleans her airways, as she keeps puking dirty water.

"That's it, little one. Very good. You're not going to die, ok. You're not going to die."

She blinks tiredly, and he stretches his hand to Lorenzetti, who gives him his overcoat. He wraps the little girl in it, in a desperate attempt to warm her out.

"I NEED BLANKETS!" shouts Lorenzetti, staring astonished at his partner and the little girl he saved the life.

"That's it, little one. I got you. No one will hurt you, ok?"

She frowns and looks up at Lindenberg, who keeps repeating sweet nothings at her for a long time, until the paramedics finally arrive and order him to release her into their care, so they can check her out.

And all the time, she simply stares at Lindenberg with big brown eyes, not saying one single word.

* * *

A/N *: For continuity purposes, I've changed the year on this chapter. Regards. K.


	2. Visit of a Commander

_**Chapter 2: Visit of a Commander**_

_**Present day  
03:24 am  
**_

"Joy, wake up."

"No… no… cold," Joy mutters, still in the grips of a nightmare.

Tim shakes Joy's shoulder again, trying to wake her up. She has been in the throes of a nightmare for the last ten minutes and she has started to mutter unintelligibly for the last five.

Tim waited to see if her nightmare would go away like others had in the past, but it seemed to get worst after each passing minute, so he decided to wake her up.

"Joy, wake up," he repeats

"No, don't… MOM!" Joy jumps awake in the bed, almost hitting McGee's chin with her head.

"Hey!"

Shaking and hyperventilating, she is not aware of McGee's hand on her shoulder. Both are sitting now on the bed, and he approaches her with care and starts running his other hand in circular motions on her back, trying to bring her back to reality.

"Shush, it's a nightmare. Just a nightmare."

She blinks away the tears, trying to calm down. After some minutes, she turns and looks at McGee's worried face, and breathes deeply feeling the last tendrils of terror slipping away.

"You okay?"

She opens her mouth to speak but no words come out. After the third try, she simply nods.

He hugs her and he can feel her molding her body to his, melting in his arms and struggling to stop shaking.

"Bad one?"

She nods against his chest, and hides her face in his neck, inhaling his scent and slowly feeling better in his strong arms. He hugs her tighter, feeling the faint tremors running on her body. It's been a while since she had bad nightmares like that. After her forced stay as a guest in Jarod's little house of horrors she had several gut wrenching nightmares, which he helped her during the painful aftermath, even attending some of the mandatory counseling sessions ordered by Vance. The nightmares eased out, until they finally stopped some months later.

"I'm going to lie down. Wanna try to go back to sleep now?"

She nods, and both lay back on the bed, she latching against his side immediately. He kisses her forehead and feels one of her legs being thrown possessively over his own. Only their breathing fills the night air, the noise of the street muffed down by the thick curtains covering the windows, blocking the noise and the light and creating a small cocoon of warmth for the two NCIS agents.

"Wanna talk about it?"

Joy sighs, and lifts her right hand to rub it tiredly against her burning eyes.

"No," she mutters in a tired voice.

"Okay."

He closes his eyes and settles down to sleep with his lover in his arms. She sighs again.

"I can't."

He opens his eyes and stares at the ceiling, as he had imagined she would clamp up and not reveal whatever is troubling her. She had worked in some very gruesome cases before joining NCIS, and sometimes the past found a way to visit her in her dreams, giving her some very vivid nightmares.

"You can't or you don't wanna talk about it?"

She stays silent for some moments. Her eyes closed as one of her hands trace lazy circles over his chest. He's using her favorite PJs, the ones that her mother gave him as a gag Christmas gift in silk and stamped with silly little Santa Claus.

"I can't." She sighs again. "I can't remember. It's just that desperate feeling of dread as if something is about to happen. The images haunt my head, but when I wake up, it's gone."

She yawns and hugs him tighter, her eyes already closing with sleep again.

"Maybe you just have to relax and it will come back to you."

Both sigh, already falling asleep.

"Maybe…"

Whatever she was going to say is lost as she falls asleep again, safe in McGee's arms. As both of them settled down, a shadow on the room moves, and muscular blond man in jeans and red plaid shirt leaves his position by the window curtains and approaches the bed, watching vigil over the sleeping couple. His shoulder length hair moves softly caressing his high cheek bones, and his tanned skin covered sinuous muscles that bespoke of power and strength. However, there was gentleness in his piercing eyes as he looks at the two humans on the bed. He smiles as he sees that, even in sleep, McGee won't let go of his hold on the petite woman, and she seeks instinctively his warmth and his arms.

"It's time, little one," He says in a soft voice, and disappears.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

They both wake up a little bit tired and prepare for a new day. While McGee is getting ready upstairs, Joy hits the kitchen and turns on the expresso machine, digging the fridge for something to eat. They have a hurried breakfast and go on separate cars to NCIS, as tonight he won't sleep over her place and he had promised to go out with Sarah later on.

They enter the bullpen, greet Tony who is already sitting on his table with a maniac smile on his face. Ziva arrives shortly after them, dropping her backpack in her chair before running to the ladies room.

"Where's the fire?" asks Tony, looking at the empty space where the Israeli was just a couple of seconds before.

"No fire, she just needed to go," Joy says with a smile, booting her computer and preparing to start a new day.

Gibbs arrives with his ever present coffee, barks at them and gives each agent a pile of cold cases. Apparently, Director Vance wanted them to be useful during the quiet time between cases so they are about to revisit old ones. He walks up to Joy's table and drops a pile of files on it.

"I need profiles on these." Joy looks up and down the pile, then at Gibbs, who smirks at her. "Have fun."

McGee glances at Joy's pile and opens his mouth to offer to help, but Gibbs simply pushes some files on his hand.

"I need research on these. Now."

McGee glances apologetically at Joy, who simply shrugs and gets the first one on the pile. Ziva comes back from the bathroom and freezes when she sees the other three agents diligently working on their desks then at Gibbs, who is sipping his coffee.

"Your share is on your desk."

She nods, and then starts doing her own research on old case files.

So the day slowly drags itself to its end, each agent silently rechecking the old evidence and reports, trying to see if the investigators in charge missed anything in the first investigation.

Gibbs looks up from his desk sometime around four p.m. and sees that everyone is diligently checking their files. He frowns as he glances at Buchanan, as she had already prepared a draft of a profile for two of the files, and she was slowly reading the third. At least, she had been when he glanced at her for the last time. Now, she is hunched forward on her chair, her forehead resting on her left hand as she slowly massaged her own neck with her right one, trying to dispel some tension from it.

"Buchanan," he calls out, but she doesn't hear him or simply ignores him. She rubs her forehead harder, this time with her eyes tightly shut.

"Hey!" he shouts again, and she finally looks up at him. He frowns and imagines that she is probably silently fighting a headache, if the pain glazed eyes looking back at him are a good indication of her situation."

"You okay?"

"Just a headache. Nothing serious."

Gibbs glances at McGee, who is frowning at the papers he is reading. He glances up and shrugs, indicating that he has no idea what's going on. Gibbs glances at Joy, who is back at reading her documents. She stands up and nods to Gibbs.

"I'm going to talk to Ducky. I need his opinion on something here."

She leaves the bullpen, and both Gibbs and McGee stare at her back as she walks towards the elevators leading to the lower levels and finally to the autopsy.

Once she is out of their hearing, Gibbs turns to McGee and stares at his young agent, who abandons all his pretense of working and stares at his computer screen with a deep frown on his forehead.

"Care to share what's going on?"

McGee glances at Gibbs and at least this time he doesn't pretend not to know what Gibb's is asking of him.

"I would love to. The problem is that I don't know."

Tony can't lose the chance of poking fun of his probie, and turns to him and asks in a fake shocked voice.

"What do you mean? Your girl is in some funky mood and you don't know the reason why? Man, what's wrong with you?"

McGee glares at Tony, but answers looking at Gibbs. "There's nothing wrong with me." He sighs tiredly, "She hasn't been sleeping well. Just that."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Joy enters the elevator and sighs as soon as the doors close down, feeling exhaustion pouring down every molecule of her body. She shivers a little, but valiantly tries to ignore it.

_I must be coming down with something, _she thinks.

The lights of the elevator flicker, and she looks up at the light trying to see if it will go out again. From the corner of her eye she sees someone standing with her inside the elevator, but when she looks again, it's empty as it was before.

The lights flicker again, and it becomes dark for a few seconds. She rushes to the control panel and she is one second from pushing the emergency button the lights come back again. She frowns and looks around, and her gaze freezes on the man standing with her in the elevator.

His blond hair is shoulder length; his chiseled chin completes a defined face, with piercing blue eyes staring down at her as if he knows every single secret in her heart. Despite the shrewdness of his gaze, he looks at her with kind eyes, and for some reason he seems familiar to her.

He is wearing hand washed jeans which had seen a better day a long time ago and a plaid red shirt over a turtle neck undershirt. His arms are folded, and the broad arms indicate that he is a soldier, ready and eager for battle.

"We gotta talk, little one," he speaks in a gentle voice, and she finally remembers.


	3. Problems at Sierra Lima 37

_**Chapter 3: **__**Problems at Sierra Lima 37**_

Jimmy is waiting anxiously for the elevator, which seems to be stuck somewhere between the first and second floor. He keeps pressing the button, as Dr. Mallard ordered him to bring those reports to Abby asap. Gibbs and his habit of using the elevators as conference rooms always have a way of messing up with other people's agendas.

Finally the elevator moves and reaches his floor. The doors open, but he is surprised to find Agent Buchanan in there, a very scared expression on her face, staring sightlessly ahead.

And there's no one in the elevator with her.

"Agent Buchanan, is something wrong?"

She blinks and looks at Jimmy, finally identifying the source of the voice speaking to her.

"Jimmy?"

He sees that she is extremely pale under her tan, as if she had seen a ghost or something. The doors start closing again, and he puts out one of his hands to keep them open.

"Are you okay? Do you want me to call Dr. Mallard? You look like you're about to faint."

She stares at Jimmy for a moment, finally shaking her head, "No need," she hits the button of the bullpen again. "You coming up?"

He nods and boards the elevator with the senior agent, who suddenly seems full of nervous energy.

"Is something wrong?"

"Not yet."

"Not yet? What kind of answer is that?"

The elevator opens its doors to the bullpen, as Jimmy had forgotten to hit Abby's lab floor button. Buchanan marches out of the elevator with determination, and Jimmy's curiosity leads him to follow her, ignoring completely the set of reports he has in his hands.

She walks directly to her own desk, and start dialing on her landline a very long number. She lifts her head and sees him looking at her, she tries to smile but it comes out more like a grimace, before she turns her attention back to whoever is on the line. Her hands are shaking holding the phone against her ear, the knuckles almost white with tension.

"_Hello, may I speak to Dr. Maggie Buchanan?"_

Gibbs notices the strange agitation on his agent, and stands up to check on her.

"What's going on?" he asks Jimmy, who shrugs and points to the profiler.

"I don't know. I found her in the elevator, pale as if she had seen a ghost, and then suddenly she was in a hurry. I just followed her here."

"_What do you mean she is unavailable?"_

McGee stands up and walks around his desk, going to stand by Joy's side. He notices that she is almost shaking with nervous energy. She turns to look at him, and he notices pure terror in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asks softly, and she shakes her head, too busy to answer him yet.

"_Can you please track her down, and tell her that it's an emergency. I really need to talk to her." _She takes a breath and listens before replying with an, "_Ok, I'll hold."_

Joy puts the phone down and puts it on speakerphone, and the annoying sound of electronic music fills the air.

"What's going on, Buchanan?" asks Gibbs, feeling his gut giving him some warning that something big is happening.

"I don't know, but something is wrong."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"Boss, just don't ask. Something bad is going to happen, and that's going to happen to my mom. I just know it. Don't ask how."

"_Research 37, how can I help you?"_ a jolly voice answers on the other side of the line.

"Hi, I'm looking for Dr. Margareth Buchanan, she's chief scientist of the R&D department on Sierra Lima 37. Can you please locate her?"

"_May I ask who is calling?"_

"It's her daughter, Joy Buchanan."

The woman types something on the background, while Joy stares at the phone eagerly waiting for the answer.

"_She's in a middle of an experiment right now, I can't interrupt her. May I take a message?"_

"No, just go in there and tell her that I need to speak to her. Now."

"_I'm sorry, I can't do that. But…"_

"No, you listen, I want to talk to my mom. _Now_! Now move your butt and get her in the lab at this exact moment."

A heavy silence comes from the other side of the line. Finally there is a sigh, and the person says, _"Please hold."_

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Get the non magnetic pliers and use it to exam the artifact from P3XTW9," says Dr. Maggie Buchanan as she looks at the plasma screen showing the latest results of the electronic microscope tracking the atoms which were submitted to radiation from the device brought from P3ED68. It had been given to SG4 team by the indigenous population during a routine exploration mission, and it seemed to radiate some kind of radio and radiation power. It didn't seem to have a battery or a power source, as it was a completely perfect square, with no markings on its obsidian walls.

They had tried everything, from MRI to X-Rays, and up until now they had no idea of what was inside of it.

"Any word from the Anthropology department?" she asks as she inputs some new readings on her laptop.

"Not yet, Dr. B; Dr. Jackson is still checking with his own team but so far he couldn't find any cross reference of the Native inhabitants with any advanced race. So, he's still digging."

Maggie smiles, leans over to look as another microscope and takes another note, "And we know that's how he is happiest, digging in old history."

Her retort is answered with chuckles of her team, a top of the line crew of scientists hired by the Stargate Program to analyze all technology found during the excursions of exploration teams through the device named Chaapp'ai, or Stargate by the people on base.

Maggie was responsible for the R&D department, specially the one who studied and reverse engineered most of the weapons and attack technology the SG teams found during their forages in the universe and beyond.

"Dr. B," one of the assistants calls out from the back of the lab, "phone for you."

She doesn't even lift her eyes from the microscope before answering in an annoyed voice.

"Tell whoever it is I'm busy right now, I'll call later."

The assistant insists, "But it's your daughter, and she says it's urgent. She needs to speak to you right now."

Maggie stops what she's doing and turns on her chair to stare at the assistant with the phone on her hand. She frowns, as the girls rarely call her on base. They know that only in life or death situations they are allowed to interfere in her work.

"Which one?"

The assistant shrugs, "She didn't say. If she did, I didn't get it."

Maggie looks at her workstation, then at the people on the other side of the double glass panel, in protective gear studying the black box from P3ED68. She looks at the scientists taking readings and poking the strange box.

"Dr. Carmichael, take over here."

Another scientist takes her position before the computer screen as she leaves her workstation and walks towards the assistant, who has a phone on her hand. Maggie looks around the lab, seeing all her scientists dutifully working in their stations and taking note of the actions in the inner lab.

"Maggie speaking."

"_Mom, it's Joy."_

"Hi honey, I'm very busy right now."

"_Mom, I know, but whatever you're doing you gotta stop it. And stop it right now."_

"Joy, what are you talking about?"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Joy hits the speakerphone again and gets the phone extension on her hand to talk to her mother, all the while she is under watch of Gibbs, Jimmy and McGee who are hovering over her shoulder.

"Remember when I was thirteen and I got sick at school and the nurse couldn't find out why I was the way I was. I simply freaked out and started shouting that Johnny was dead."

There is a pause on the other side of the line, as Maggie tries to remember the event that Joy's talking about.

"_Honey…"_

"Mom, later we found out that Johnny had been beaten by Lisa's ex almost to death, and only because we called his superior officer and asked him to try to locate him that he was found alive. Do you remember that?"

"_Yes, I remember, but—"_

"Mom, I've been having nightmares. Really bad ones, and I've been having this… this horrible feeling of dread for days and … and it's about you. I know that your work is important and I know that I can't even grasp my mind around what you do over there, but please, I'm begging you, mom: whatever you are doing right now it's dangerous, and it has the potential of killing a lot of people. Something awful is going to happen if you don't stop it right now."

Joy stops her tirade and glances at McGee, who is staring at her silently.

"Mom?"

* * *

a/n: For those SG1 fans, the scene in the elevator is very similiar to the one when an Ascended Daniel warns Jack of impending danger. Here it is a similar situation.


	4. Simmering problems

_**Chapter**__** 4: Simmering problems**_

Maggie turns around and looks at the scientists on their posts, working diligently and at the four scientists in protective gear taking readings of the black box in the inner lab. She sees Dr. Cavanagh, one of the transfers out of Pegasus galaxy, getting ready to try to make a hole on the casing of the box with a high power drill.

"Stats are fine, please proceed," one of the assistants says, checking the readings on her screen.

"Just hang on, Joy."

She approaches one of the techs, "tell me the stats."

"Radio emissions are very low, but we're reading some energy spikes whenever the scientists apply any type of electricity current to the artifact."

"What kind of energy spikes?"

The scientists shrugs, "We don't know yet, we don't have enough data. It lasts for a very short period of time for us to get exact readings of it."

"Is it safe?"

The scientist types something on her laptop.

"_Mom?"_

"Hang in there, kiddo." Maggie answers on the phone, as she waits for her tech to give her the information requested.

"It's increasing exponentially each time it appears, but so far they've been only spikes."

Maggie looks at the inner lab, beyond the protective double glass, and sees Dr. Cavanaugh powering up the drill and getting ready to perforate the outer casing of the artifact. She thinks about her choices and responsibilities, and the desperate plea of her daughter thousand miles away in DC.

"_Mom?"_

She marches up to the comm and presses it up.

"Abort the test."

Cavanaugh freezes and looks at the chief scientist as if she had lost her mind. She is staring at him from the other side of the glass, making cut motions with her hand. Her voice, distorted by the electronic speakers, resounds in the inner lab as if it came from all sides.

"What?"

"_Abort the test. Step away from the artifact and get out of the lab. We need to review the data before proceeding any further."_

She turns to the scientists in the outer lab, who are all staring at her, surprised at her attitude.

"Come on guys, we're aborting the test. I want everyone's reports with a complete threat assessment at oh nine hundred hours in my desk. Right now we're evacuating the lab until it's deemed safe to return again."

The four scientists go to the door that connects the inner lab to the outer lab, and wait for the decontamination process to finish.

"Ma'am, there's no reason for that. The tests results-"

"You said it yourself. We're having energy spikes which are increasing exponentially. We don't know what kind of energy is that and I'm not willing to put my whole team at risk to figure out what it is. So let's abort and get everybody out."

While she is speaking, the four scientists finish the decontamination process and finally the hiss of the hydraulic doors that lead to the outer lab is heard, and they march into it, with Cavanaugh in front.

"What's happening here? I was about to open it. Do you have any idea of what kind of breakthrough we're about to make here?"

Maggie turns to the arrogant scientist and barks in her best command voice, "Yes, I do. However, we've been having energy spikes that we're not sure of the origin, so I prefer to proceed with caution, in order to guarantee the safety of my team. So we will review the data and we will proceed only after I deem that the safety conditions are met."

Cavanaugh approaches the chief scientist and towers over Maggie's smaller frame, thinking that he can strong arm her to do his bidding. The other scientists just stare at the standoff impassively.

"The safety conditions are fine. We've checked them this morning. There's nothing that remotely suggests that it might represent any danger for the team."

Maggie shakes her head resolute, as she won't back down now that she made her decision.

"That's not for you to decide. I'm the head of research here and I think we should proceed with caution; until further orders, I want this lab evacuated and that thing into containment. No one is to touch it until it's deemed safe." She approaches Cavanaugh and snarls at him, "and that's an order, Dr. Cavanaugh."

Both scientists glare at each other, Dr. Buchanan staring at the arrogant scientist that dared to defy her orders. Cavanaugh sighs angrily, but after some moments, he nods and goes to his own workstation, closing down the screens to evacuate the lab.

Maggie looks around and shouts, "Ok, folks, close down shop, we're evacuating the lab."

One of the scientists close to the door hits the lockdown button. Red strobe lights start flashing inside of the lab along with the piercing siren announcing that an evacuation is being made. There's a fury of activity as all scientists rush to close down their computers and get their notebooks and laptops in their hands to leave the lab.

"_Mom,"_ Joy asks again on the line, and Maggie brings the wireless phone to her own ear.

"I hope you're right, honey."

Joy sighs on the other side, _"And I hope I am wrong."_

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Joy is sitting on her chair, staring at the phone as the sound of the evacuation siren and people shouting to each other is heard on the other line on speakerphone. She glances for a second at Gibbs, who had overheard her mom's conversation with the other scientists.

"Why did you tell your mom to quit the test?"

Joy shrugs and stares again at the phone.

"Something was about to happen. I just knew it. Her work conditions are dangerous at the very least, but sometimes some of her work is just …" she glances back at Gibbs, "Boss, she works with experimental quantum physics and she is surrounded by theoretical astrophysics specialists. Her lab makes the CERN look like a toy store. If the safety conditions are not met and if something goes wrong…" her voice falters.

"The results could be catastrophic as in a world level disaster," completes McGee, as they hear the noise of people evacuating the lab several states away.

Gibbs turns to stare at McGee who is telling him something that is hard to swallow.

"How?"

"It was theorized that when the Large Hadron Collider came online, back in 2007, that the black holes that potentially could be created as a result of the particles smashing together had the possibility of eventually devouring our whole planet and therefore end with life on Earth," says McGee in his own lecture mode.

Gibbs stares at McGee as if he lost his mind. "You're kidding, right?"

Jimmy nods and butts in the conversation, "Yes, he's right. There was this huge debate about the moral concerns of scientists trying to figure out the universe at the expense of the existence of all life on the planet, and if humanity should blindly seek scientific knowledge despite the dangers it might represent."

Gibbs glares at Jimmy, who gulps and takes a step back. "Not that I know anything about the subject anyway."

Joy tries to savage the situation, "However, the Collider came online and, despite the overall fear, nothing happened. The threat of black holes swallowing the Earth was proved false; but there are still several security measures that must be met to keep it fully functional within safe conditions."

"_I want everybody out now. Do you have a head count?"_ They hear Maggie shouting to her scientists on her lab through the speakerphone.

"What about your mom?"

Joy shrugs and looks at the phone which is on speakerphone, "She leads one of the departments of the American counterpart of CERN. They are into R&D but most of the things are so confidential that even the secret that they are a secret is a secret."

"_Lower the blast doors_!" They hear someone else shouting. The sirens change tune, and they hear the sound of something mechanic being moved.

"Blast doors?"

Jimmy looks questioningly at Joy, who glances at him and nods vaguely, "it's for security reasons and also whenever there is danger of biological or radiation contamination."

Tony and Ziva abandon all pretense of working on their files and approach the men standing around Joy, and silently hear the drama happening on the other side of the line.

"Is she going to be ok?" Ziva asks softly, as she holds a special place in her heart for the brave dragon lady they've met several months back.

Joy looks up at the Israeli, and says in a tired voice, "I don't know. I hope so."


	5. No static, yes radiation

_**Chapter 5: No static, yes radiation**_

The blast doors touch the ground with a dull thud, effectively locking down the lab. Maggie looks around her team and nods, satisfied she got everyone out.

"I want everyone to review your files and double check the last readings of the artifact. I want a report on the last minutes at oh nine hundred tomorrow. Regroup and review your findings, I'm going to go brief the General," she turns around and waves to her personal assistant to follow her.

"But what do you expect us to do until then?" shouts Cavanaugh, still pissed off at the lead scientist for stopping his opening of the artifact.

Maggie's patience with him is running out, so she turns around and says sarcastically, "Well, you could review your findings and present them neatly in a report explaining why I should let you get in there again with a very dangerous power source, or if that's too much for you to do, you could twiddle your thumbs until the next staff meeting. What do you think of that?"

There is general laughter at Maggie's tirade, and Cavanaugh blushes four different shades of red, but keeps quiet. He can't afford to piss off the chief scientist here too.

"I'm going to talk to the General," she turns her back and starts walking down the corridor, with her assistant by her side. She looks at the phone still on her hand, and brings it to her ear.

"Kiddo, I'm looking for a more private place here, just hang on."

"_Ok, mom."_

She walks down the corridor until she finds an unused biology lab four doors down. She swipes her ID card, opening the door and motions for her personal assistant to enter with her.

"Watch the door, make sure nobody fights his way in," she says to her, and walks further down the lab, opening another door with her ID card. As soon as the door closes, she looks around and sees that she is in one of the bio labs, which is currently studying several plants from Pegasus Galaxy for their potential medicinal properties. She walks further into the empty lab and brings the phone to her ear again.

"Ok, Kiddo, now tell me what exactly your gut told you this time, because I have to report to the General in a few minutes and I can't simply tell him that I stopped a vital test just because my daughter felt a bad mojo on it."

"_Mom, I can't tell you that because I don't know. All I know is that something bad would have happened if you continued the test."_

Maggie sighs as she looks at an exotic Orchidaceous like plant that they were testing by its antibiotic properties.

"Honey, I take very seriously your work and your instincts, but you have to give me something more. I was weary of this test too, but despite my apprehensions I have a work to do."

"_Mom, what… this…tatic."_

"Joy, the connection is breaking on your end. Can you repeat?"

"_Wha…static…"_

"Static? There is no such thing as static on this line. This is a top tech line, there should not be any static unless…" Maggie frowns, as a possibility crosses her mind.

She looks down at her portable Geiger counter, adapted as a wristwatch on her right arm, and she feels tremors on her body as she sees the radiation levels it's registering.

"Oh, my God, Joy. That's not static, it's radiation." She walks towards the door and sees a bright flash behind the door which her assistant is watching guard, then there is a dull electromagnetic pulse which immediately cuts the phone connection, then she sees nothing more.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The people in the bullpen in NCIS listen Maggie's tirade with the arrogant scientist and Gibbs smiles as he hears Maggie putting him into his place.

They all silently hear Maggie tell her assistant she's going to talk to the General, and then hurried steps on the floor. Finally Maggie's voice is heard clearly again.

"_Kiddo, I'm looking for a more private place here, just hang on."_

"Ok, mom."

They hear more steps, a hydraulic door being opened and closed, and then more steps to another door, which opens and closes, and finally Maggie's attention is completely on the phone again.

"_Ok, Kiddo, now tell me what exactly your gut told you this time, because I have to report to the General in a few minutes and I can't simply tell him that I stopped a vital test just because my daughter felt a bad mojo on it."_

Joy smiles at her mother interpretation of the facts, and shakes her head, "Mom, I can't tell you that because I don't know. All I know is that something bad would happen if you continued the test."

They hear Maggie sighing on the line, and suddenly there is some kind of interference on the line.

"_Honey, I take …iously your w… and your instincts, but you … something more. I was weary …test too … my apprehensions … a work to do."_

Joy frowns, as she knows that the lines on the base are completely secure, and there should not be any interference on its transmission. She sits straighter on her chair, immediately alert.

"Mom, what is this static on the line?"

There is some delay, then Maggie answers.

"_Joy … nection is break… your end. C… repeat?"_

"What is this static?

Maggie takes some seconds to answer.

_"Static? Th.. is no … this line. … a top tech …, there should not … unless…"_

There is a hull in the conversation, and then they hear Maggie's horrified voice in a whisper, which comes quite clear despite the static messing up with the transmission.

_"Oh, my God, Joy. … not static … radiation."_

Joy stands up and leans over the phone, and shouts in a quivering voice, "MOM!"

There is silence, then a growing sound like the roar of a thousand voices in agony. Then the connection is cut and only the sound of the beeping of the cut line fills the bullpen.


	6. Meeting the Commander

_**Chapter**__** 6: Meeting the Commander**_

_**February 15**__**th**__** 1997**_

Lindenberg enters the big entrance hall at the Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit Medical Center and walks up to the nurse diligently working on reception desk.

"Hi," he says softly, but the nurse keeps typing something in her computer. He tries again. "Hey."

The nurse looks up and smiles at him.

"Hi, how can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a child that was admitted a couple of days ago, she is under federal custody. I don't have her name but she is mute and—"

"You're here to see the little brown angel."

Lindenberg feels his eyebrows going up in surprise. He smiles a little and repeats, "Little brown… angel?"

The nurse smiles and leans forward to him, as if whispering a secret, "That's how the nurses are calling the doll like mute kid that was brought by the FBI a couple of days ago. She doesn't speak, but her brown eyes are the most expressive things I've ever seen."

Lindenberg nods, "Yeah, that's the one. Can you inform me where she is?"

"ID, please, just people with previous authorization are allowed to come visit her. Hospital Policy, you know."

"I'm SSA Karl Lindenberg, from the FBI. I was part of the strike force who rescued her."

The nurse nods, and runs his name against the previously approved list to visit her. She smiles brightly at him, and returns his ID to him.

"She's in Wing three, room 303. You take this corridor all the way to the end, turn right. There you will find three elevators. It's on the third floor."

Lindenberg nods and starts walking away. He freezes after some steps, and walks back to the receptionist.

"Just a question."

"Yes, sir."

"Do you have any… gift shop around?"

The nurse smiles, and points to the left.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Lindenberg gets out on the third floor of Wing three, extremely self conscious of the brightly wrapped gift in his hand with purple silk paper and a huge yellow ribbon.

He walks to the reception desk of the floor and finds two nurses speaking in low voices. He nods at them as one of them approaches him.

"Hi, I'm SSA Lindenberg of the FBI, I'm looking for the kid brought here three days ago."

The nurse asks to see his ID, and he happily complies with it. She nods as she runs his name with the authorized list, and points to a door down the corridor with a cop sitting on a chair at the door.

"The psychiatrist and the social worker are with her right now, so if you wish to wait a little while."

"Thanks," Lindenberg nods, and starts walking to the indicated door. He salutes the cop, who stands up and asks to see his credentials. After all formalities are done, he approaches the glass wall separating the corridor from the hospital room and looks at the little kid laying in the middle of the big hospital bed, staring mutely at the doctor speaking to her. There is a lady, who he guesses must be the social worker, standing on the other side of the bed, and she looks tiredly at the traumatized kid. Lindenberg can only guess how many kids in the same situation she had to deal during her long tenure as social worker.

As if warned by a sixth sense, the social worker lifts her eyes and meets Lindneberg's on the corridor. She interrupts the doctor and points to the FBI agent in the other side of the glass. The doctor says something to the little girl, who doesn't react to his words. He pats her little hand, stands up and walks with the social worker out of the room.

"Hi, who are you?" asks the social worker, a little bit rudely but her main interest is to protect the child, first and foremost.

"Hi, I'm SSA Karl Lindenberg, from the FBI. I'm the agent who got her out of the lake." He says that without taking his eyes of the little girl, who lowers her eyes from the ceiling and stares at him for a moment, before staring againg at some point on the corner of the room.

"Ah, you are the man who saved from certain death then. I'm Mrs. Doreen Thorn, the social worker assigned to her case and this is Dr. Lucas Erichsen, from the Psychiatric department specialized in traumatized children."

The two men shake hands, and Lindenberg looks again at the kid.

"What can you tell me?"

Dr. Erichsen sighs and approaches the glass, staring at the kid in the other side of it.

"So far? Very little. Initial tests confirm that, despite of the dangerous conditions she was found, she has no brain damage resultant of the long period she stayed under water. However, upon her arrival on the hospital the nurses verified that she has been continuously and severally beaten, most probably with a belt, on her back. There are marks that, according to the coloration of the scar tissue, are as old as five years ago."

"Five years?" Lindenberg looks at the doctor horrified, "that would make her what? Four, five years when the beatings started?"

The social worker sighs, "Probably, however we don't know exactly when."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"According to Swanson's papers, that kid," she points to the kid staring sightlessly at the corner of her hospital room, "doesn't exist. There is no paper trail in anywhere you guys looked that even indicates her name, her birth date or who her parents might be. He kept no record of her, and we have no way of knowing her exact age. According to the doctors who checked her out, she is somewhere between eight or nine, but they can't be more precise than that."

Lindenberg glances at the kid then at the two people before him, "Swanson was a bastard and a creep. We found several girls, no older than twenty years old, drugged up to their eyeballs and completely brainwashed into his cult-like mentality. The girls called that little kid over there by the moniker of _Servant_: She was specially separated to attend some household chores and to dive into the Pit to seek for what they called _Answers_. They actually just kept the girl underwater until she had hallucinations and spouted out whatever they wanted to hear."

"It's a miracle that she's still alive."

"Yes indeed."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The little girl fidgets a little on the big fluffy white bed, as her healing back is bothering her. She glances at the two strong men who are guarding the entrance of her room, both of them in jeans, cowboy boots and white t-shirts. The T-shirts did nothing to hide the powerful muscles beneath the stretched out cloth.

Despite their apparent strength, both men did not scare her as some of the Master's minions did. They looked at her with kind eyes, and when she was scared, as in the night before, when the night nurse came to poke her and turned off the lights. One of them approached the bed, took her in his strong arms and sang to her softly, in a deep baritone voice, a song in a strange language she did not recognize, but it was so pretty that she went to sleep straight away.

She glances for a moment out of the room, beyond the glass, and sees the man who reeks purity talking with the woman with tired eyes and the man who introduced himself like Dr. Errrsomething.

As she is looking at the three people outside, the door opens and a tall blond man enters the room, nods to the two men, who immediately straighten out and salute him. He approaches her bed, his cowboy boots making a soft sound against the clean hospital floor. He stands beside her bed and looks down at her, and she looks up at him with the same curiosity that he is studying her.

She doesn't know who he is, but she can feel the simmering power emanating from him, a power very different from the power that she had felt in the master's Masters.

"Hello, little one. Do you have any idea of who I am?"

His voice is powerful, yet at the same time kind, resonating in the room with its wisdom and gentleness.

She shakes her head slowly.

"My name is Tal. I'm the Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts and I'm the one who lead the strike force to take over Swanson's masters."

She stares at him for a full minute then she blinks.

"Swanson's Masters are defeated by now. But not vanquished. It is only a matter of time before they gather strength again and try to bring more mayhem to the land."

She frowns at him, and he nods.

"That's why I need your help. But not right now. Later. You still have too much to learn."

He glances over his shoulder, and sees the FBI agent looking at the little girl with worried eyes, talking with the doctor and the social worker.

"I'm going to bring someone here now, and you will help him. I need you to show him what you know and, when the time is right, I'll hide you from Swanson's masters. They won't find you, until you are strong enough to face them again."

Tal studies the small child before him. He is, as always, surprised with the resilience of the human mind and soul.

"Is it okay for you?"

She nods.

Tal smiles down at the little girl, turns around and nods to the two guards. He leaves the room and walks up to the federal agent, the doctor and the social worker, and leans over Lindenberg's shoulder, whispering something in his ear.


	7. Playing God with Atoms

**_Chapter 7: Playing God with Atoms_**

**_Present day_**

"Mom?"

Only the beep of the cut line answers.

"What was that noise?" asks Gibbs looking at Joy, who is frozen in place.

"That wasn't static." She looks horrified at McGee, and he can see the growing panic in her eyes. "That's radiation, Tim."

For a moment, one could hear a pin drop on the floor, as the agents stare at Buchanan who is looking forlornly at the telephone.

"Please tell that wasn't what I think it was, because if it was, I…" Jimmy stops, as he thinks of the possible implications of what he has just witnessed, even if it was just by a phone connection.

Joy shivers and seems to regain her control, as she puts the phone slowly back on the cradle and closes her eyes, breathing deeply trying to think what to do to help her mother several states away and several yards under the ground.

"Call Faith," finally she says in a quivering voice, lifting worried eyes to McGee, "tell her ... tell her that there was an explosion in Mom's lab, and tell her to try to find Dad."

She turns her phone again and starts dialing out at the same time that McGee runs to his desk to make his own phone call. Gibbs approaches her and sees that her hands are shaking as she dials a new phone number.

"Who are you going to call?"

"I'm trying to call the upper floors on the base. The connection to the lower levels was cut, but maybe, _just maybe,_ I might still be able to reach the ground floor."

She gulps, and waits for the call to connect.

"Maybe she's fine and you're just worried for nothing … maybe that was just a minor explosion," says Tony in a hopeful voice, trying to dispel the tension in the air. Gibbs, Jimmy, Tim and Ziva turn to stare at him, and he lifts his hands in surrender, "Hey, it's just a thought; it might be nothing, you know."

Joy returns her phone back into its cradle with fury after hearing the busy tone, stands up and stares at Tony.

"Tony, you really don't get it, do you? There is no such thing as a _minor _explosion when you are playing God with atoms which are colliding in hyper speed inside nuclear reactors several floors underground."

Tony gulps at her fury, but he's aware that she's just venting because she's worried with her mom. She looks at him and says softly, "Tony, my mom build weapons of mass destruction, and radiation is _never _good, under any circumstance."

"The base?" asks Gibbs, and Joy looks at him as the same time she runs a shaking hand on her face.

"Nobody is picking it up on the ground level. Communications are down overall."

McGee talks softly on the phone as he goes around his desk and offers the phone to Joy, "Faith is on the line."

Joy grabs the phone from his hand and talks to her older sister.

"Joy, what is that McGee is talking about? Mom's lab exploded?"

"Faith, listen, do you know if dad is anywhere close to Nellis Air Force Base?"

"I don't know. I haven't spoken to him in a while."

"Well, try to locate him and tell him that I was with mom on the phone when her lab exploded. If he's around, he can contact the correct authorities on Base to deal with that on their side."

"Okay, what are you going to do?"

"I'll…" she glances at McGee, who is patiently waiting for her to finish the call, "I'll try to track down Uncle Jack, he must be informed of what happened and he will also know who to contact in the project to organize a rescue."

"Where are you right now?

"At NCIS headquarters, I'll call you after I talk to Jack."

"Okay, keep me posted."

The two sisters disconnect and McGee looks at Joy's face who is barely keeping her worry under wraps. She sniffles a little and wipes a stubborn tear running down her face.

"What now?"

"Now we call the Pentagon and try to find General O'Neill," Joy says in a low voice, as she gets the phone and starts dialing.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The secretary was taking a gulp in a glass of water on General Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill's office of _Homeworld Command _in the Pentagon when the phone rang. She gulps hurriedly, wipes her mouth and rushes to answer the phone.

"General O'Neill's office, how can I help you?" she says cheerfully on the line.

"Hello, may I speak to General O'Neill, please?"

"I'm sorry, he's unavailable right now. He's on a meeting." She looks at her perfectly manicured nails, and looks at the time on her computer. It's seventeen oh hundred hours.

"Well, then interrupt his meeting and tell him that Joy Buchanan is calling. Tell him it's an emergency."

"I'm sorry, can't do it. May I take a message?"

"Listen, it's an emergency. I need to talk to General O'Neill."

"He's in a closed door meeting, ma'am. May I take a message?"

The person in the other side of the line sighs loudly, and the secretary goes through her desk drawer, looking for her nail clipper. She had seen it somewhere down here…

"Listen, just… Can you locate him and just pass him the following message: There was an explosion at the Sierra Lima 37 in Nellis Air Force Base. Just tell him that, and I assure you he will take my call."

"Ok, ma'am, please hold."

She clicks something on the phone, and starts dialing out.


	8. Child drawings lead to hidden truths

a/n: First of all, sorry it took me a while to update. As I always say, real life sometimes simply sucks... but, I've been plotting and planning this one. Hope you enjoy. Things will unfold quickly now...

* * *

_**Chapter 8: Child drawings lead to hidden truths**_

The FBI agent walks slowly through the corridors of the pediatric wing of the hospital, until he reaches the small recreation area for the floor. He looks through the glass window and sees a lonely brown haired girl sitting in a round yellow plastic table, her forehead creased in concentration, drawing on several white sheets of paper, despite the gaze wrapped around her right hand which limited a little her movements.

He smiles a little as he sees a blue unicorn, with bright indigo blue wings sitting proudly on top of the kid's table, as if watching her struggles with the colored pencils.

A nurse sees him standing outside the window and waves him in, inviting him to enter the small room. He accepts the invitation and, as soon as he enters the pediatric toy room, his nostrils are invaded with lavender scent, which comes from an incense stick slowly burning near the window, and his eyes are attracted to several cartoonish characters cut in plastic hanging from the walls.

His entrance does not go unnoticed by the little girl, who turns her head to stare at the invader of her play room. He smiles faintly at her, and she smiles for a second, before returning her attention to her drawing.

"Hey, little one," Lindenberg says, as he folds his large frame in one of the child stools, trying to get to the same eyelevel of the small brown haired girl.

She throws a glance at him from the corner of her eye, and throws her hand to grab the unicorn by its left wing. She brings it against her chest and squeezes it, the plush horse neighing a recorded sound that brings a smile to the FBI agent.

"Ah, so I see that you are enjoying your new friend. Is he treating you well?"

The little girl rubs her face on the plush toy, looks up at the FBI agent and silently nods.

"Good. I chose him especially for that. You see, he is very special."

She perks up at that information, and looks directly at Lindenberg, curious at what he is saying.

"He is not only a horse, he is also a unicorn. Unicorns are very special creatures, a little bit shy, but whenever they strike a friendship with a mortal, it lasts forever."

The little girl looks at the agent, then at the unicorn in her arms. She looks at it so impressed, that Lindenberg can't help but smile at her innocence which, thank God, hasn't been destroyed during her stint as a Servant in that creep's house.

"Have you given him a name yet?"

She leans forward with the unicorn in her arms, smiles brightly and nods at him.

"What is it?"

She pouts, gets a pink pencil and a new blank paper, and starts writing in a girly handwriting.

Lindenberg leans forward to see what she is writing, and smiles when he sees the name she chose for the unicorn toy he gave her on his first visit. She shows the paper to him, and Lindenberg nods impressed at her intelligence.

"_Wings_? You are naming the unicorn _Wings_? That's a nice name."

She smiles brightly at him and nods energetically, her curly hair moving around her doll-like face. She gets another pencil, this one moss green, and returns to the drawings she was doing when he arrived at her table.

"I've spoken to your doctors, and they are saying that they are releasing you soon. Your lungs are clear, no sign of infection, and your back is finally not as raw as before."

She bites her lower lip, and adds more green to a lower right corner of her drawing.

"However, you still refuse to speak." She glances at him, then back to the drawing. "I know you can understand what I say to you and you are quite intelligent, but they can't find anything physiological to explain why you don't speak. So, the only conclusion they can reach is that… you don't speak because you don't want to."

She supports her head on her left hand, her elbow resting on the table, the unicorn sitting comfortably on her lap, and looks at him for a while. Lindenberg notices that, as every other time when he had the opportunity to speak with her, her gaze doesn't stay at him for long, wavering to his left side for a few inches, as if there was someone looking over his shoulder.

"Hey," he calls out softly, and her gaze comes back at him. He smiles softly, and she smiles delighted at him, and hides her grin in the plush toy. "One day, you are going to explain to me what you see when you look over my shoulder, young lady."

She leans her head to the right, glances over his shoulder again, then turns her attention back to her drawings.

Lindenberg notices her attention is back to her previous activity, and turns to look at her art. He is surprised with detailed rendering of the woods behind Swanson's property, with the naked branches and the dark soil giving a dark atmosphere to her drawings.

"They are good." He looks at other drawings, also from Swanson's backyard. "Very good."

He smiles as he sees a drawing where he sees a little girl, with long curly hair, holding the hand of a tall man in a yellow overcoat. He is guiding her away from the dirty waters of the pound. He sees a curious movement of shadows in the background, but for some reason he can't identify what she tried to draw in there.

"Very goo—" something that is the next drawing catches his eye, and he takes it in his hand to take a better look at it.

It's a rendering of what was inside of the lake, showing the figure of little girl with brown hair floating down in the water in a white dress, and the surface above. He could see the pier that he used to jump in the water, the two girls they took under custody and a man in a yellow coat, which he could only guess it was a representation of himself, standing at the margin of the pound.

But what really brought chills to his spine was that, beside the little girl in the bottom of the lake, there were several rotting corpses amidst the algae and vegetation, in different stages of decomposition, their bones piled one atop of the other, and in some of them one could see the delicate rendering of chains tying them down to cement blocks, to ensure that they wouldn't float up.

He glances at her, and she is looking at him very seriously. "Hey, is this for real? Is this what you saw when they made you swim in that filthy pound?"

She rubs her face on the plush unicorn, and her brown eyes fill with tears, as she slowly nods at him.

"Oh, kid." He stretches his hand and rubs her cheek, wiping the lonely tear that has escaped her eyes.

He stands up and goes to the window, opening his cellphone to call his office. Lorenzetti answers right on the second ring.

"Hey Lindenberg, what's up, man?"

"We need to dredge the lake."

"What?"

"There are corpses in there."

Lorenzetti is silent on the other side for a moment, at the same time he signals excitedly to another agent to come to his desk.

"Come again?"

"Remember that you said that we needed a small miracle to pin the missing people cases to Swanson? I think we just got our miracle."

"How can you be so sure that the missing people are down the lake?"

He turns around, and looks at the small brown haired girl, who seems to be in a staring match with the unicorn.

"Let's just say that I have an eye witness to it."

"The mute kid? Man, that won't hold on court."

"If the corpses are really there, we won't need her testimony. The facts will speak for themselves. Now arrange a warrant and have that lake dredged asap."

"Sure, man. You're the boss."

Both agents disconnect, and Lindenberg approaches the little girl again. She looks up from her unicorn and stares at him with her liquid brown eyes. He kneels beside her chair, and gazes into her serious eyes for a long moment.

"No one is going to force you to do something like this again, okay? I won't let them."

She stares at him for a minute, then leaves her chair and sits on his lap, hugging him firmly with the intensity only a little child can have when they are in need of love and understanding. Lindenberg kisses her brown bangles, and tightens his hold around her small frame, shuddering as he consider the horrors this small kid has faced in her few years of existence.

While she is in his lap, she looks over his shoulder and smiles at the tall tanned warrior standing guard beside the FBI man. The warrior smiles back, and blinks at her.


	9. It's not what you know, but who you know

_**Chapter 9: It's not what you know, but who you know**_

**_Present day_**

Joy stares at the telephone as the irritating song played in repeat for God knows how many times, as she has her mobile phone on her ear, trying to reach her father several states away.

"Come on, pick up, pick up."

After the third ring, _"Hi, you've reached Joseph Buchanan, I'm not available right now. Please leave a message after—"_

"Crap dad, of all the times you could've forgotten to charge your mobile," she growls at the telephone, and disconnects.

"Does he usually answer his phone?" asks Gibbs, as he sees her agitation as her father seems to be unreachable.

"If he remembers to have it with him, yes." She smiles faintly at Gibbs, "He's a little bit like you. He uses technology; it doesn't necessarily mean that he likes it."

The boring music tone ends and a deep voice comes out of the speaker.

"Peanut?"

"JACK!" she shouts and turns to face the speakerphone.

"What's up, kiddo, that you had to interrupt my meeting with –"

"Jack, just shut up and listen, okay? There was an explosion in Nellis AF base."

"What? How do you know that? Better yet, how haven't I been informed of it yet?"

"First of all, I know of it because I was speaking to mom when the connection was suddenly cut, and you haven't been informed probably because it was… I think it was a nuclear explosion, shortly after mom disconnected she mentioned radiation levels on her test, and something was having energy spikes or such. The communications are down. I can't reach anyone in the surface. No one is picking up the phones in the higher levels. Dad is nowhere to be found, and I simply didn't know who else I should call."

Jack covers his phone and they hear him speaking in muffed tones with someone in the background.

There are some clicks, and the line suddenly has a hissing sound and a new voice, full of authority, comes into the conversation.

"Hey, kid, tell me everything you know about the explosion, and how much you know about the operations in Nellis base."

Joy glances at Gibbs, who is standing beside her and frowns.

"Ah, well. My mom is chief scientist in the R&D department in Nellis Air Force base, and I was speaking to her in the moment of the explosion. She was testing something. There was a talk of energy spikes, stats and unknown energy surges. She cancelled the test, got everybody out of the lab, and lowered the blast doors. And shortly after that, there was some static in the line and the explosion."

"She cancelled the test? Why?" Jack is baffled, and Joy cringes at his question, unwilling to reveal that she begged to her mom to cancel it just because she had a bad feeling about it.

"That's not important right now. What's important is how we're going to get them out of there. Each minute that passes they are exposed to God knows what type of radiation and their chances of survival diminish exponentially."

The second voice interrupts again, "You haven't answered my second question. How much of the inside workings of Nellis base are you aware of?"

"Oh…" she turns to look at her coworkers, and Gibbs grins lightly at her indecision. "Let's say that, in very simplistic ways, all I know is the following: My mom builds bombs and weapons of mass destruction, which uncle Jack uses to blow things up. I don't know what type of things, but they are massive, considering the blast power of the bombs my mom builds. And she has always told us that she investigates the meaning of life stuff, but I've really never followed her enthusiasm of all things that go _boom_. My oldest brother is the one who follows mom's footsteps, as he is a bomb specialist in Afghanistan. My interests go more to the psychology field; I'd rather deal with psychopaths than with atoms and its reactions."

"Uncle Jack?" there is amusement in the voice, and they hear Jack laughing in the background.

"I've taught the kid how to drive, Sir. And I've scared the daylights of her prom's date with a shotgun. She's family."

"And my brothers blew up his tool shed in his cabin in Minessota in a 4th of July holiday, back in the day."

"Ah, there's that too. Which ones did it?" Jack can barely hide his mirth.

"John was teaching Lucas how to mix potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur in the correct amounts to create gun powder."

"Ah yeah. It's a miracle those kids reached adult age."

"He was teaching Lucas only because _you _showed him how to do it."

"Did I?"

"Yep."

"Ah, yeah. I remember." Someone talks to Jack, and he speaks about recalling Carter asap. There is some noise of papers being ruffled, and they hear Jack suddenly cursing loudly and extensively.

"Jack, what's wrong?"

"Sir, do you remember that budget meeting that we had reschedule five times, as the senate committee couldn't agree on a visiting date to see the base operations?"

"Oh, no. Are you telling me that we've just had an explosion in a top secret base and I have a bunch of bureaucrats being toasted by radiation right now? That's all I've never wanted in my office term." The other voice says tiredly.

"Are you talking about the budget meeting my mom has been moaning about for the last weeks?"

"That one."

"If those senators die…"

"This top secret project will not be as top secret as before," says the other voice, and Gibbs decides to interrupt, as he has a tingling suspicion on the back of his mind.

"May I ask who are we speaking to?"

"Who is this?" the authoritarian voice asks, and Joy rushes to explain.

"Ah, sorry, I forgot to tell you that you are on speakerphone. I have here my boss, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who is the team leader of the Major Case Response Team and my team in NCIS. They were all by my side as I spoke to my mom and they are also worried about her. "

"Jack, what do you think?"

"They are the ones who nailed down that McGee bastard when he tried to kill off Davis and sniffed around the project. They're the best investigators I've met out there, sir."

Gibbs smirks at the praise received by the General, and looks around as he sees the same satisfied smiles on the faces of the rest of his team.

"Jack, thanks. But who is he?" Joy insists.

There is a pause, before Jack's amused voice sounds again, "he's my Boss, kiddo."

"Your Boss? Someone of the Joint Chiefs office?"

"Ah… not exactly… more like THE Boss."

"I don't understand." Joy looks puzzled to Gibbs, who can barely hide his grin.

"I'm your Commander in Chief," says the President.

Gibbs turns to look at Joy's face, who is looking mortified with huge eyes at the phone, becoming pale under her tanned skin, before blushing brightly shortly after. He can only grin as he sees his always smooth looking agent feeling totally baffled.

"Ah… I … as in… the President?" she finally asks, and Jack barks a laugh in the other side of the line.

"Kiddo, who else would have high enough clearance so I could talk so openly about the Project?"

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Remind me to use your favorite Simpsons DVD collection as target practice next time I'm visiting."

"You wouldn't dare."

"ENOUGH," orders the president, shutting the banter up between the two relatives. "We have to organize a rescue mission. O'Neill?"

"I've already ordered the Hammond's recall. They are just a couple of hours out, they can help with the treating and rescuing of the wounded. Sheppard and his team are on board; they can give a hand on the rescue mission. We also don't know what type of radiation they were submitted to, so we will need all their science geeks on board to crack this one out."

"You've named an airplane after General Hammond?" asks Joy, and Jack coughs loudly.

"Not…" cough "exactly" cough "an airplane."

"O'NEILL" moans the President, and Jack seems to defend his point of view.

"Come on, the kid grew up with the project. She might not know the specifics, but she knows everyone in there."

"Do you vouch for her?"

"We will need civilians if the shit hits the fan with the senators. They hate speaking to us, uniformed career men. And some of those senators particularly despise me. And the kid is used to dealing with psychopaths. She will have them eating out of her hands in a blink of an eye."

The president sighs loudly, while Gibbs team waits anxiously for his verdict.

"I don't like you comparing our senators with psychopaths… even if the description is quite accurate in some particular cases. Okay, bring her in. Read her in the project, make her sign all the mandatory lines and do what you think it is best."

"What about my team?" Joy interrupts, looking at McGee, Ziva and Tony, who are all listening eagerly the conversation at the White House.

"Her team?" The president asks Jack, who shrugs.

"They are the best out there, sir. God knows we need people we can trust in this, and that has become a rare thing as the time goes by in our line of business."

The president is silent again for a few seconds, then sighs. "Okay, bring them in too." Joy gives a small jump, ecstatic, "but they are your responsibility, O'Neill."

"Sure sir."

Joy looks grinning at Gibbs, who nods and speaks to the phone, "You will have to clear us out with SecNav and our Director. They won't release us to an external mission without their knowledge."

"Ah, agent… Gibbs, am I correct?"

"Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Mr. President."

"I'm _THEIR_ Boss, they do what I order to do when I order it. If I want to send you in an outer space mission, I can do it without their authorization or knowledge. Do you get my drift?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, Martha, get me SecNav on line three. General, you coordinate with them the pickup point and for Christ sake's, get those senators alive out of that base!"

His voice fades, and the agents can hear him speaking loudly with one of his aides, until a door closes and they can't hear him no more.

"I knew there was a reason why I voted in him," says Tony, just to receive a jab on his ribs from Ziva.

"Jack, if you weren't family, I would kick your ass."

"Hey, I'm a General, you can't beat me up."

"Sure, fine, whatever. Where do you want to meet us up?"

"How soon can you get to Boiling AF Base?"

Joy looks at Gibbs, who nods and answers, "We're just across the river. Depending on the traffic on the bridge, ten to twelve minutes."

"Make it in twenty; I still have to finish some things with the president here. By the way, Joy?"

"Yes, Jack."

"Remember when you were fifteen and I took you flying in one our toys?"

Joy closes her eyes and smiles, remembering that weekend so long ago.

"When you took me flying in an airplane that is not supposed to exist, that defies the laws of gravity and its fuel is so toxic that it was branded as radioactive?"

"Yep, that one."

"This one is _so_ much better."

"O'NEILL, YOU TOOK HER FLYING IN ONE OF OUR PROTOTYPES?" They hear the president shouting in the background, and they cringe as Jack covers the phone and starts talking in low tones with the President.

Joy smiles as they wait for Jack to return to the line. Tony leans over the cubicle divider, and wiggles his eyebrows. "Prototype flying? I've never pegged you as a flyboy. _Flygirl_. Is that even a word?"

"It was my birthday, and they had some new airplane being tested that Jack was responsible for. He just took me for a spin."

"Okay, kids, here's the deal, meet me in twenty at the Boiling AF Base. I'll contact ahead and let them know that you are coming," says Jack after a while.

"May I call Hope and Faith as well? They will want to be part of it too."

"Ah… Why not? The more, the merrier. Maggie will kill me when she finds out I brought you all into the project, but… I'm not afraid of her. Much." He mutters the last word almost as an afterthought.

He disconnects, and Gibbs walks to Joy's table and puts the phone on the cradle, finishing the connection. He turns to Joy, who finally lifts her eyes to him, and says with a small ironic smile, "You'd better warn off Director Vance, before he gets a call from SecNav."

"AGENT GIBBS!" A roar sounds from the upper gallery, and all agents look up to see Director Vance almost blowing a gasket, such was the fury he was holding the handrail of the stairs.

"My office, now!"

Gibbs turns around to look at Joy, who mouths "_I'm sorry_." He grins, and starts walking towards the stairs, taking two steps at a time until he is beside Vance, who hurries into his inner office.


	10. Survival in the streets

_**Chapter 10: Survival in the streets**_

**_Two weeks before Thanksgiving, 1987  
Grand Station, Detroit, MI_**

The hurried steps of the passengers rushing around the Grand Station, eager to escape the bitter cold wind, did not falter before the forlorn looking little girl shivering in a seat in waiting area of the train station. Her brown hair was in a messy ponytail, probably made with her own shaking hands, hidden in old oversized gloves.

She sat silently over there for hours, her flannel encased legs folded under herself, with only an old Hello Kitty backpack that had seen better days laying on her side and a blue unicorn with indigo wings tightly held against her chest.

She stared forlornly ahead, just waiting for something or someone to come by, and being ignored by the throngs of people in a hurry to get to their homes to celebrate the long awaited bank holiday.

Finally, someone's footsteps walked towards her, and stopped right before her. The jeans clad person just waited for the little girl to look up to his face, and he grinned at her when she smiled in recognition.

"Hello, little one," Tal said, as he sat beside the shivering little girl.

She smiled brightly at him, and Tal was saddened to see the sorry state she was, since she escaped the sorry excuse of foster home the social worker, Mrs. Thorn, found for her. As soon as the social worker turned her back, the couple who had sheltered the little girl, nicknamed Annie Brown by Mrs. Thorn, started showing their true colors.

The little girl, despite the harsh life she led until then, knew that there was something really wrong in that house, where the husband would leave his wife's room to visit the older foster girl's room. She saw that the girl – her name as Gloria – always woke up with marks on her arms and with red rimmed eyes after his visits, but the wife had never interfered or stopped her husband's actions.

So she left after four months she was put in that house, and had been living in the streets since the beginning of spring, living on the charity of others, sleeping under cardboards in alleys, just trying to get by. But the bite of the cold winter was already in the wind, and she would need a new shelter soon, if she was to survive the negative temperatures ahead.

"How are you doing, little one?" Tal asked, in a soft voice, and his heart broke a little as she simply shrugged, silently expressing her dismay with her situation.

Tal looked down at her hands, and how her fingers held desperately tight the blue unicorn in her hands, gifted by the gentle FBI agent, as if afraid he would fly away. He sighed and prayed for guidance, as God's plans should not go unfulfilled, but first of all he had to find a shelter to the very special person in the whole picture currently sitting by his side.

He leaned his head to the right, silently listening to His orientation, smiled and stood up, offering a hand to the little girl.

"Are you hungry?"

She lifted huge eyes at him, and Tal could almost hear her growling stomach complaining. She rubbed her dirty face on the unicorn, and nodded.

"Come on, I know a place where you can eat something, and they will take care of you for me."

She put her little hand in his bigger one, and followed him out of the station. They walked for three blocks in the windy autumn afternoon, until they reached a corner where an apparent brick building with a bright green door stood proudly. There was a banner with something written in bold green letters hanging from the upper window in the façade, and there were children drawings stuck to each and every window. There was music and laughter of children floating out of the house, and the delicious smell of cinnamon rolls filled the air, escaping through the opened window pane in the back of the house.

Tal knocked on the door, and simply waited for it to open.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Jocelyn Aziz was a volunteer on the Sunday school of the Adventist Church, and she was running herself ragged trying to control the unruly gang of seven year old kids running and playing tag in her class that Sunday morning.

She signaled to her colleague, Vanessa Curtis, to take over her class, as she needed a break to run to the kitchen to see if the cinnamon rolls being prepared for the kid's party were cooled enough to be served.

As she walked to the lower floor, going to the kitchen, she heard someone knocking on the door of the school building, which was located beside the main church building, where the parents of the kids were currently attending the morning service.

She looked confused at her wristwatch, as it is a little late for a parent to drop a child for the service. She walked curious to the front door, saw a tall silhouette by the door and opened it, looking curiously at the tall gentleman holding the hand of a ragged looking child.

"May I help you?"

"Yes, ma'am." The tall gentleman said, his voice smooth and comforting. He was dressed in jeans, a thick flannel shirt over a black wool pullover and cowboy boots, which were a strange sight for the Detroit weather.

"She's late for Sunday school. Would you look after her for me, please?"

Jocelyn sighed and looked down at the child, and smiled at the most adorable little girl she had ever seen. She looked a little bit ragged around the edges, her ponytail needed to be washed, brushed and fixed in the right position, her clothes a little bit dirty, but there was still hope, as the little girl looked at her with bright brown eyes shining with curiosity and eagerness, as she stretched herself to look behind Jocelyn, trying to identify the source of the music and the most amazing food smell she had ever felt.

"Sure, we always have space for one more." She knelt on the floor, to be on the same eyelevel with the little girl, "are you hungry?"

The little girl turned bright eyes at her, and nodded vigorously. Jocelyn laughed at her enthusiastic answer.

"If you go down this corridor, after the last door, there will be a kitchen. Chrystal and Mary are there baking tons of cakes and sweets for the kids upstairs. Just go there and tell them I've sent you there, and they will give you a scone to eat before lunchtime."

The little girl smiled brightly at the young woman, and ran like a rocket into the house towards the kitchen, dragging the backpack behind herself and holding the unicorn firmly in her arms.

"She will be safe with us. Don't worry about her."

"I know. Thanks."

Before Jocelyn could say anything else, however a small comet ran into Tal's legs, hugging him firmly. Tal laughed out loud and ran a hand over the messy mop of curls on the little girl's head, who looked up at him adoringly.

"You'll be safe here until I come to get you. Now go, the food is waiting for you," he said, receiving a nod as an answer, before the little girl left him and ran again into the house.


	11. They are not Servants

**_Chapter 11: They are not Servants  
_**

**_Three days before Thanksgiving, 1987  
Detroit, MI_**

The tall man never came back to collect the little girl, who Jocelyn soon found out was mute. She expressed herself through gestures and through her face, which was very expressive, and the young woman felt her heart constrict at the plight of the little girl.

After talking with the elders of the church, they agreed to let the little girl sleep in the small visitor's bedroom on the back until they decided what to do with her. They would wait one week: if the man did not return, they would contact the police and hand the little girl into their care.

But it was Thanksgiving time, and the girl was a delight to have around, and Jocelyn sweet talked the elders to wait until after the holidays to decide the little girl's fate.

So she stayed, hanging around the kitchen, helping doing dishes, cleaning the floor, anything they asked her to do, she would do it with a big smile on her face, never complaining.

Some mothers of children her same age donated some winter clothes, so she soon was with clean old clothes braving the wind in the backyard, cleaning the leaves that were falling from the trees. Jocelyn and the janitor's wife, Becky, hovered and showered the little girl with attention, especially Becky, who had lost her little girl in a car accident six years before and was delighted of having a little girl in the house again, just to brush her hair and play with her silken curls.

She sometimes disappeared during the day, returning at the end of the afternoon, no explanation given. She would run to her room, stay for some minutes and run back to the kitchen of the church, sitting beside Becky while she cooked the soup for the homeless people who visited the church doors three times a week.

Three days before Thanksgiving, she arrived after one of her disappearances, and ran into her room, not even acknowledging Becky's calling her to the kitchen. She stayed for hours in her room, and when she left, she had red puffy eyes from crying, but had a determined look on her face that surprised Becky.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The little girl stared confused at the pictures she found inside of the wallet she had just stolen from the man who smelled like the other one, the one who took her from the Pit. He smelled just like flowers and, when he looked at her, his eyes had been kind, just like the man who gave her Wings to look after her. He paid her a hot chocolate and a huge chunk of chocolate cake, and he stayed speaking to her until it was time to leave for his train.

There were several pictures of him, hugging a smiling dark haired beauty with beautiful violet eyes and a very pregnant belly.

There were also pictures of him holding a smiling boy on his knees, the little boy making a mess with the older man's hair.

Then another picture of the good smelling man with his arms over the shoulders of a tall smiling teenager with the same dark hair and violet eyes of the lady in the first pictures.

Pictures of two beautiful blonde little girls, approximately her age, their curly hair hanging around pale perfect skin, laughing as they hanged like monkeys from his arms, which he held wide open like a statue.

And other pictures showing him with the same children, sometimes all of them, sometimes some of them, always smiling or laughing.

She felt her eyes filling with tears, and ran her fingertips over the smiling faces in the pictures, which went against everything she had been taught while living with Master Swanson. Servants were not supposed to play, or make noise, or interfere with adults. They should go unnoticed, silent, not speaking unless spoken to. That's how Swanson had trained her, with severe beatings, until she finally had learnt that silence was best. Speaking to adults would usually just lead to more beatings.

"They are _not _Servants, little one," says Tal, appearing in the corner of her small room, and slowly walking towards her bed. She lifted her tear filled eyes, and looked questioningly at him.

"What Swanson did to you was wrong. He just wanted to exercise his power over you, controlling every thing you did or thought." He sits beside her on the bed, and points to the happy people in the pictures. "Do you see these kids? They laugh, they run, they play. There is no obligation of chores to be done or forced dives in the Pit. They are happy."

The girl looked at him for a full minute, then looked down at the pictures spread out before her on her lap. She took a picture in her hand, the one where Joseph hugged Maggie and kissed her cheek, one of his hands over her pregnant belly.

"They are a family. And family protects family. Do you understand that concept?"

The little girl stared forlornly at the smiling people, and shook her head slowly. Tal sighed, as it was time to take the chance.

"How much money do you have?"

She wiped her nose in her jumper sleeve, and left the bed, opening the last drawer of the cupboard in the corner of the room, and retrieving a small shoe box. She brought the box to the bed, and poured its contents on the bed. Several wallets, different colors and leather types, fell on the bed, all results of her daily expeditions to steal wallets in the Grand Station.

She gathered the money she found in all wallets, and showed Tal, who took it from her hand and silently counted the notes. He sighed, and looked at her, who was fidgeting before him, staring hopelessly at the picture of the two blonde girls playing with Joseph.

"I think you have enough for your journey."

She looked up at him, and frowned at the Commander. Tal smiled at her, and run a hand over her head, messing up with her curls.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of a place called Glasgow, Montana?"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The following morning, when Becky went to wake up little Annie, she found her room impeccably clean and organized, but no sign of the little girl.

She opened the drawers of the cupboard, and the few clothes donated to the little girl were gone, as well as the plush unicorn and the Hello Kitty backpack. She looked around the room, worried, already thinking the worst, until she saw a small envelope sitting on the bed, her name written in Annie's little girl handwriting.

She took the note in her shaking hands and read it silently, sighing as she saw the little girl's heartfelt goodbye.

_"Becky,_

_Tanks for loking ater me, but Comander Tal came pick me upp and take me to my new hoome. _

_I love yur scoones an your kissses on my cheek,_

_Kiss Kiss_

_Little one."_

Becky sighed again, walking up to the window overlooking the backyard of the small church complex.

"May God guide your way, little one," she whispered softly, watching the last leaves of autumn falling to the ground.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Meanwhile, in Detroit Grand Station, a tall man held firmly the hand of a brown haired girl as they waited for their turn to buy their train ticket. Once it was their turn, the little girl walked to the counter, which she could barely reach, and put a driver's license on the counter.

The ticket seller looked at the driver's license, then at the little girl looking up at her with bright brown eyes.

"Where are you going to, honey?"

The little girl pointed to the driver's license in her hands. The ticket seller, a fat strawberry blonde squeezed into the Amtrak uniform, looked at it and read it out aloud.

"Joseph Buchanan, resident of Glasgow, Montana. Is this some kind of joke?"

The little girl shook her head, her big brown eyes huge staring at the lady who was between her and her journey. A tall man in red plaid shirt and jeans suddenly appeared beside the little girl, his big hand resting on her shoulder.

"She can't speak. But she wishes a one way ticket to Montana. That's why she gave you the license. So you could know her destination," the tall man said in a soft voice.

"Are you travelling with her?"

"Yes, ma'am."

The ticket seller puffed and started to type in her computer. She checked the timetable, and there was a train leaving in ten minutes.

"It will be two hundred and forty nine dollars, one adult and one child ticket."

The little girl opened her backpack and deposited a bunch of dollar notes in the counter, under the careful watch of the Amtrak employee, who sighed and started counting the notes.

"You gave me two hundred fifty bucks, here is your one dollar change."

The little girl smiled at her and gladly took the coin, the tickets and the driver's license, putting it back into her Hello Kitty backpack. The seller turned to the tall blond man and said, "The train leaves in ten minutes, platform six. You will have to change trains in Chicago, then it's a ten hour journey until Montana. God bless and have a safe trip."

"Thanks ma'am. Have a nice day and happy Thanksgiving."

"Happy Thanksgiving for you two."

Tal gave his hand to the little girl, who put the backpack straps on her shoulders, the little blue unicorn peeking from the half closed backpack, her other hand dragging a small suitcase with all her donated stuff.

They walked up to the right platform, boarded the train, and left Detroit.

Next stop, Glasgow, Montana.


	12. Godspeed

**_Godspeed_**

_**Today**_

During the tense waiting period waiting for Gibbs to come downstairs from his little meeting with the Director, Joy and McGee called the other Buchanans informing them of the new developments.

Hope and Faith hopped on a FBI SUV and were already on their way to the Boiling AF base as soon as they disconnected with them. Temperance couldn't make it on time, so she would keep on trying to reach Joseph from Quantico.

Jimmy ran downstairs to talk to Ducky, and soon both he and the old M.E were in the bullpen, eager to offer their medical knowledge to the wounded in the explosion. Or, in the worst case scenario, they would simply help the emergency teams working on the base to give some dignity to the dead.

"Did Temp tell you where dad went?" Joy asked McGee as she disconnected with Hope, who had squealed like a banshee once she found out she finally would get the clearance to visit Maggie's workplace - even in these terrible circumstances, that was a dream coming true for her.

"He apparently went fishing with a friend of General O'Neill, someone named Murphy, Morley,-" McGee struggled to remember the name, until finally Joy's face illuminated as she connected the name to the person.

"Murray. I know who he is. Tall, silent, black guy with a strange tattoo in his forehead. He has the strangest sense of humor I've ever seen. He has known Jack for several years, and whenever he's in town he goes fishing in Jack's cabin in Minnesota."

"Do you think that's where your dad took him? Minnesota?"

Joy rubbed her forehead, feeling the first pangs of a headache coming her way, as she considered the possibility, "Maybe. It would explain why we can't reach him. The cell signal doesn't reach Jack's cabin."

Tony and Ziva soon returned from Abby's lab, having informed her of their imminent departure to Nevada. Abby came with them to the bullpen, and soon attacked Joy, hugging her in a bone breaking hug.

"Ah, Joy, I hope all is well with your mom!"

Joy tapped the Goth scientist lightly on her back, trying in vain to call the Goth's attention, who was squeezing her mercilessly.

"Abs, I need to breathe." She gasped, and Abby finally realized that she was squeezing the daylights out of the profiler.

"Oh, sorry." She left go, and Joy lightly touched her breasts, checking if everything was still in the same place as before being squeezed flat by the Goth scientist.

Meanwhile, Gibbs and the Director finished their meeting and came down the stairs, finding the team all gathered with their backpacks in their hands ready to go. Vance studied each agent, his eyes finally landing on Buchanan, who fidgeted a little under his scrutiny.

"The only reason why I'm relieving you all of duty to go in this impromptu rescue mission is because I've received direct orders of the President, through SecNav, to allow you to participate on the rescue mission of the senators currently restrained in their base. Apparently, they don't know what kind of situation you will find once you arrive there, so he insisted that our total cooperation is of the utmost importance to ensure minimal loss of life.

In normal circumstances, they would use the marines on base to man up the rescue, but all communications are down, and they haven't been able to contact anyone, on or off base. They have marines from a neighbor base flying in to secure the perimeter, but they will wait for some abroad specialists to arrive to ensure the safety conditions are met before sending any rescue teams into the lower levels."

"Wouldn't that waste precious time, which in turn could cost precious lives?" Ducky asked, already imagining the atrocious results of radiation on fragile human tissue. The longer they stayed in contact with radiation; the worst were the chances for the people in contact with whatever was currently dispersed in the air of the base.

Joy shook her head sadly, considering the decisions to be taken once they landed in Nevada, "They are right. They won't send anyone in unless they are sure that whatever contaminant residue of the explosion won't be transferred to the rescue teams, increasing the chance of spreading the radioactive elements to the public in general. The own nature of the experiments in there are so delicate that they can't take the chance of releasing an unknown substance by accident in the atmosphere. The results could be… catastrophic."

Everyone stayed in silence, their faces creased with worry, considering the scenario they would face once they arrived in the Nevada; their thoughts all focused on the snarky old lady that conquered their hearts in her brief visits to NCIS.

Vance glanced at Gibbs, who silently nodded, indicating that it was time to leave.

"Godspeed, and may you find all of them safe and sound." The agents started to move out of the bullpen, Tony and Ziva taking the lead, McGee and Buchanan right after them, with Gibbs, Ducky and Jimmy closing the line.

"Buchanan," Vance called out, freezing the profiler's steps before boarding the elevator. She turned around, looking at the Director, who nodded at her, "I hope your mother is found alive."

She studied him for a minute, before glancing at Gibbs – who was staring at her with his penetrating gaze – then back at the director.

"So do I, sir."

With those parting words, all boarded the elevator, on their way to Boiling AF Base.


	13. Why the Buchanans simply love the USAF

A/N: Hey dears, this is the key chapter of the story, where two amazing universes collide. I hope you enjoy it and review it, as I want to hear your thoughts about how each agent reacted once facing well... their destiny.

Regards, K.

* * *

**_Chapter 13: Why the Buchanans simply love the Air Force_**

_"Jack!"_

_"Yep?"_

_"This warehouse is empty."_

_"Just because your eyes can't see anything it doesn't necessarily mean that it's empty."_

_- **SA Hope Buchanan and Brigadier General Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill.**_

Gibbs and Ziva drive different cars towards Boiling Air Force base, reaching it just with one minute to spare to the appointed time given by the General. Once they identify themselves at the gate, they are ushered by a serious looking airman towards a warehouse deep in the facility, finding a FBI SUV already waiting for them before the closed hangar doors.

They stop the cars, and the agents start piling out: Joy and McGee coming out of Gibbs' car, Ducky, Jimmy and Tony coming out of Ziva's car. Hope and Faith leave the SUV, and walk towards the NCIS agents.

"Hey, good to see you again," says Faith towards Gibbs' team. Despite Joy's relationship with McGee, the FBI siblings had not seen the NCIS team since the girls' night at the Buchanan's townhouse, several months back.

Gibbs takes a step forward and firmly shakes the oldest Buchanan's hand, "I just wish it was under better circumstances. Any word on Joseph yet?"

Hope hugs Jimmy, then Ducky, before turning to Gibbs to answer his question, "Temp is calling his cell each ten minutes, hoping against hope that he might go somewhere he might get a signal. But it's very unlikely. Jack has that cabin especially for the times he wants to be away from the world, so we called the grocery store manager down in the city. If dad shows up, he will inform him to contact us immediately."

"Is Jack here yet?" Joy asks as Faith approaches her. Both sisters hug, take a step back and Faith shakes her head silently. She studies Joy's worried face, knowing how the younger woman is imagining all worst case scenarios in her head.

"Not yet, we've been told that he is already on his way. He'll be here anytime soon," she uses a finger to lift Joy's chin, "Hey, mom's a tough lady. If there's someone who can survive a nuclear blast, that's her."

Joy gives her a faint smile, and glances at Timothy, who is looking at her with a tender look on his face, "I should have warned her sooner. I knew there was something wrong, something was about to happen, but I simply couldn't pin exactly what it was and who was in danger."

Timothy shrugs, "There's no way you could have known. Just because you have been having nightmares it doesn't mean that they are supposed to mean something."

Both Buchanan siblings immediately go on alert, and stare at Joy sternly who fidgets under her siblings' scrutiny.

"Whoa, you've been having nightmares and you haven't told us." Hope says glaring at Joy, who stares back without backing out.

"As I said, I couldn't figure out who was in danger." Joy insists, but Faith squeezes the shoulder under her hand, asking for Joy's attention.

"Kid, whenever you have one of these premonitions, you know you should always come to us. Don't bottle it up; it usually gets much worst if we wait until the shit hits the fan."

Ducky glances from Faith to Joy, both sisters looking at each other with serious expressions on their faces, "premonitions, what premonitions are you talking about?"

Hope turns to the M.E., "Joy seems to have a beeping mental radar for trouble, which works whenever one of us is in danger."

Gibbs glances at Joy, who is looking very uncomfortable with the conversation, "You foresee danger in your gut?"

Joy cringes at Gibbs' description, "It's not like that. I can't really explain. It's more like a heightened sense of self preservation. And it only works with the family."

Gibbs steps up toe-to-toe to his young agent, staring at her with his steely gaze, silently asking for an explanation. She returns his stare unblinkingly, without backing down, but refusing to elaborate more on what her siblings accidentally revealed.

"Really?" he finally mutters, and Joy sighs out loud, but before she can say anything, a black Mercedes with tinted windows rolls by, stopping beside the group of agents. The door for the backseat door opens, and out comes Brigadier General Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill, his prim general uniform covered with all his pins, stripes and stars of past battles he had fought.

He nods to the airman who is also his driver, who salutes back at the general, enters again the car and drives it away. Jack turns to the NCIS and FBI agents, and walks up to Gibbs, offering his hand to be shaken in a formal gesture of respect, "General Jack O'Neill, you must be Special Agent Gibbs, I presume. We haven't been formally introduced."

Gibbs glances again at Joy, before taking a step forward and shaking O'Neill's offered hand firmly, "You presume correctly, General O'Neill."

The two men seize each other for a moment, then O'Neill smiles smartly, "Let me guess, marine, uhm?"

"Gunnery sergeant."

O'Neill taps lightly Gibbs on the shoulder, and glances at the Buchanan siblings and at the other agents, "Let's get this party started."

He turns to Joy and opens his arms, and the young woman hugs him tightly, "Sorry for interrupting your meeting, but you should have said something."

He takes a step back and messes her hair out, just like he used to do when she was a kid, "Nah, this was important. We hadn't received any red alert until you pointed it out. In this case, your interruption was quite welcome." He turns to Hope, who grins and jumps in his arms, and Jack laughs out loud as he hugs the young blonde woman, "Oh, gosh, you are gorgeous, young lady. Wanna marry me?"

Hope giggles, "Uncle Jack, you've been proposing to me since I was ten. Aren't you tired of it yet?"

"Hope never dies in this man's heart, kiddo," he lets go of Hope and walks to Faith, putting his hands on her shoulder and kissing one of her cheeks. "How is it going, Faith?"

"Better now that you're here. Let's go?"

He nods and glances at the other agents, then at Gibbs, silently asking for an introduction.

"These are Agents DiNozzo, David and McGee. We also brought Dr. Mallard and Mr. Palmer, both with medical expertise, as probably it will be needed where we're going."

Introductions made, Jack seems to be energized and starts walking in hurried steps towards the closed doors of the airplane hangar. The others start following him, their backpacks and equipment in hand and observe him getting something out of his pocket, the size of a cell phone, where he starts typing something on it.

He stops before the hangar doors, and turns to the people who are going to embark in a journey with no return ticket. He looks seriously at each man and woman standing before him, and says in a very serious voice, quite incongruent with the carefree image he had presented until then.

"What I'm going to show you is classified above _top secret_. As Joy figured out when she interrupted my meeting with the President," he glances at Joy, who blushes and fidgets, and hurries to get McGee's hand in hers, seeking support, "only a handful of people in the planet know about the Project. Only people directly involved in the Project are cleared to see, experience and discuss what I'll show you in the next couple of hours. You all will sign non disclosure agreements, and you have to be aware that once you are briefed into this world, there's no way back, and if you discuss or betrays the Project in any circumstance, you will be formally prosecuted, charged and arrested for High Treason. There's no half way to say it, this is serious, as we are responsible for the World's first line of defense."

"World's first line of defense? What are you fighting against? Aliens? Little green men?" Tony asks jokingly, but his mirth fades away when O'Neill stares at him with a scowl in his face, turns his back at the agents and talks into the communicator in his hand. The doors of the hangar start opening, the mechanical systems groaning under the weight of several tons of steel.

A huge hangar is revealed, and spotlights start to illuminate its interior, all of them centered to a single spot in the middle of it. O'Neill starts walking, passing the threshold of the hangar and, after some hesitation, the others start following him. Gibbs glares at Tony and Ziva headslaps Tony, who looks hurt at her, silently asking _what_?

The agents look around the hangar, following the sure steps of the general, but they start getting confused after each step they take. The general finally stops a couple of feet away from where the spotlights meet, in the middle of the hangar, illuminating a wide area of it.

Gibbs leans his head to the side, staring at the General, who has turned around and is currently staring at the agents with a knowing smirk on his face.

"Is this some kind of joke?" he asks, starting to feel angry at having his chain pulled by the Air Force General.

"Jack!" Hope puts her hands on her waist, walking around in circles, looking at all corners of the warehouse and finding nothing. She folds her arms and stares at the General, tapping her elegant feet on the floor like an impatient child.

"Yep?" he answers, his glee barely restrained.

"This warehouse is empty."

"Just because your eyes can't see anything it doesn't necessarily mean that it's empty." He answers enigmatically.

"Is this some kind of riddle we're supposed to guess?" asks Faith, looking to the ceiling and identifying several cameras and motion sensors, all pointed at them and recording the movement of the agents on the floor. She takes two steps to the left, and one of the cameras follows her. _Paranoia at its finest,_ she thinks.

"No riddle."

McGee feels the hairs on the back of the neck stand up and a chill runs down his back, as a small buzz of energy fills the hangar coming from an unknown source. He squeezes Joy's hand in his, silently asking her attention and she glances up at him, squeezing his hand back telling him that she had felt it too.

She looks back at Jack, studying his barely contained nervous energy, "Jack, what are you up to?"

"Have I ever let you down, peanut?" he asks, and clicks something on this communicator. A loud buzz sounds in the hangar, and behind where the General is standing something shimmers and, out of empty air, a huge door starts to lower to the floor, fluorescent lights spilling out of the breach, illuminating the agents outside.

Ducky and Jimmy gasp out loud in awe, while Tony's smile slides out of his face, being substituted by an almost scared face as the electronics of a highly advanced aircraft are revealed as the hydraulic doors silently move down to the floor.

Ziva's eyes are perfect round saucers as she stares at the highly advanced piece of technology being revealed to her, and all she can think of at that exact moment is wonder if her dad is aware of the secrets the Americans have been hiding from them. If he is aware of it, how could he have kept that hidden from her for so long? If he is not aware of it, well, she can't hide her small gleeful smile as she thinks that she now knows some state secrets that he doesn't have enough clearance to be read into.

Gibbs takes a step ahead, staring at the interior of the aircraft, then looks down at the General's face, who is just studying the reactions of each person he had just revealed a mind blowing secret. Their eyes meet, and the General silent nods, answering Gibbs' unspoken question that the General could clearly see in his eyes, as he had seen the same question several times before in the eyes of hardcore marines once presented with the reality that their life as they knew it had just changed irrevocably and forever.

_Yes, it's real. And it gets worst from here on._

Gibbs looks back at the aircraft. Despite the impressive dept of it, the exterior continued to be invisible, showing only the walls and the floor of the hangar.

He glances back at his team and at the Buchanans, registering the shock and awe in his team faces, and then he frowns at the barely concealed terror in Joy's eyes, who is squeezing McGee's hand so tight that he has a grimace on his face, his eyes unable to decide if he looks at the aircraft or at his girlfriend. His gaze then lands on the other two Buchanan sisters: Faith is looking shocked, her mouth hanging open; in the other hand, Hope is…

"Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ." Hope mutters, taking two steps towards the aircraft. "Oh fuck. Fuck me. YAAAAHOOOOO!" Everyone turns to stare the crazy Buchanan, who starts doing a little hip hop dancing, waving her arms around like a maniac, laughter bubbling out of her throat, doing some twists and twirls. "YES! YES! I knew it! I knew it! Yes!" she falls on her knees, holding her middle and laughing hysterically, tears escaping her eyes, as she slaps her thighs repeatedly. "I KNEW IT! Hahaha, deep space telemetry my ass! Hahahha!"

Hope keeps laughing hysterically, and after some moments Jack takes a step towards Faith, who is staring shocked at her crazy sister who had - apparently - completely lost it.

"Your sister scares me," he mutters in a sotto voice, as Hope stands up and runs into the aircraft, and keeps laughing like a hyena and shouting yes repeatedly as she studies avidly the electronic displays spread out in the aircraft.

_"I love the Air Force. I simply love you guys," _says Hope between hiccups from inside the aircraft, her voice muffed, laughing hysterically as she looks adoringly at the displays.

"She scares all of us, Jack," Faith says, taking a step to the right and staring into the aircraft at Hope, who is fawning over the electronic lights blinking repeatedly in a coordinated pattern.

Jack turns around and stares at the other shocked agents, his gaze falling on the tall green eyed agent, "Hey, Agent DiNozzo, right?"

Tony nods mutely, his gaze returning at the amazing piece of technology before his eyes.

"They are _gray_," says Jack, and Tony frowns, not really following what the General is talking about.

"Who?"

"They are not little _green_ men, they are little _gray_ men." With those parting words, Jack turns around and enters the aircraft, the machine slowly hissing with the powering up of its engines, leaving all the agents staring at his vanishing back with astonished expressions on their faces, with the certainty that, from that moment on, their lives would never be the same again.

TBC


	14. No need for flight plans

A/N: Hey dears, another amazing update. Enjoy.

* * *

**_Chapter 14: _**_**No need for flight plans**_

Jack walks up at the over excited woman who is currently gazing hypnotized at a drawer full of crystals that she somehow figured out how to open.

"Hey, no touching that." He touches the drawer and it slides closed, and Hope jumps excitedly like a child in a candy shop.

"It runs on crystal technology, that's so awesome!" She looks around excitedly, and fires away questions at Jack, "Is its fuel carbon-based or ethanol-based? How do you harvest energy? Oh, my gosh, are those writings alien? Are we going to meet any aliens? Are they good looking? Can they teach me how to build one of these? May I tear one of these apart so I can see how it works? Please please, pleaaaaaaseee?" she puts her hands on Jack's shoulders, shaking him lightly as her eyes flitter from one side to the other, as her mind can't decide what is more interesting to catch her attention for more than few seconds.

"Hey, hey HEY!" Jack holds her shoulders firmly, forcing her to stare back at him, "Breathe ok? I don't know the answer for any of your questions. You want info on this babe, ask Carter, not me. I just fly the thing; I don't know how it works. No, you're not going to meet any of the bastards who've built this, and be glad for it. They are nasty little buggers. And no, you can't tear it apart. We need it to fly to Nevada. Now sit over there and keep your hands where I can see them."

Hope pouts, her face a pitiful image of a chastened little girl, but Jack hardens his heart and points to a seat on the corner, away from all the nice blinking lights on the control panel. She drags her feet and sits on the chair, her arms folded over her chest.

The other agents slowly enter the flight deck; McGee's and Joy's attention immediately is attracted to the control panel, while the other agents stare all around them with awe. Gibbs walks up to the General, who indicates with a move of head that the agent should follow him. Gibbs follows the General to what he can guess is a cargo area, where several seats have been adapted to the sides, their design obviously not matching to the smooth elegant lines of the rest of the ship.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, General O'Neill."

"Oh yeah. But I'm not a good story teller. Daniel is. Grab a seat, put your things over there," O'Neill points to some chests on the back, "and stay away from these rings on the floor." O'Neill points to some intricate ring design on the floor, "I don't want to beam you guys in the outer space by accident. Bathroom is over there, put on your seatbelts, we're leaving in a minute."

Having said that, O'Neill turns around, going to the direction of the cabin, nodding to Tony and Ziva who walk out of his way, letting him pass. However, he freezes when he hears the soft words Jimmy can't keep inside, expressing the thoughts of everyone in the ship.

"We're not alone."

Jack turns to the young man, who lifts a hand and pushes his glasses back, in a clear show of restlessness. Jimmy flinches under Jack's serious gaze; a man who has carried a burden so amazingly heavy, a secret so big that Jimmy was trying very hard not to freak out with everything he has seen so far.

"No, kid. That's the point. _We've never been_."

Jack glances at Faith, pointing with his head the seat beside Hope, and the oldest sister sits beside the pouting blonde and hugs her, in a show of support. After the apparent adrenalin rush is over, Hope starts shaking, her enthusiasm fading rapidly into shock, her expression becoming overwhelmed with the information her brain is valiantly trying to process. Faith feels the shakes coming, and brings Hope's head to her shoulder, holding her tightly as Hope's adrenalin finally runs low and her mind finally settles down with reality, striking the blonde woman mute.

Ducky sits close by, observing the two siblings, and Jimmy sits beside his mentor, the medical bag in easy reach in case they need something. Tony, Ziva and Gibbs drop their things on the indicated storage chests, and take the seats close to the door leading to the cargo bay.

Jack walks up to Joy and McGee, who have their backs turned to the others, both of them staring at the control panels of the cockpit. McGee had one arm around Joy's shoulder, half hugging her against his chest, while Joy had one arm around his waist, her fingers holding firmly the material of his jacket, in a desperate attempt of not letting go.

If she let go, she would probably fall to the floor in dead faint, hoping against hope that, once she wakes up, her whole world hadn't changed.

Jack sits on the pilot seat, and glances up at the two agents staring silently at the strange writings on the walls.

"Hey, you two ok?"

McGee looks down at Joy, who still has a shocked expression on her face, and he can feel the faint tremors running through her body under his fingers. He hugs her tighter in his arms, and looks at the General, and answers in a soft voice.

"No."

Jack nods, "Yeah, I know the feeling. But still, I had _years _to get used to this insanity. You can't expect to absorb all this in just a few minutes." He looks back at the control panel, and starts doing the pre-flight checking. "Hey, Peanut, wanna be my copilot?"

That brings Joy out of the stupor she felt herself drowning, her blood pumping too loudly in her ears, "What?"

Jack glances up at her, then at the empty copilot seat beside him. "Wanna give it a try?"

She gulps, and shakes her head, "I can't. I mean… I … no…"

"Come on," he presses something on the control panel, and the two agents flinch as the door starts closing behind them, "you're the only one here besides me that logged flying hours. And this baby here is not much different than that prototype you flew with me in your fifteenth birthday."

She looks at Jack, biting her lower lip, then up at McGee, who shrugs and lets go of her shoulder, not before squeezing it lightly. He goes to sit by Gibbs, his eyes never leaving Joy, who slowly sits down on the copilot seat.

"Good girl. Now…" he clicks something on the panel, and some maps appear on the glass-like windshield, showing distances and some numbers, and more strange letters on it - like on those intelligent murder boards - running very fast in vertical columns, "Control, this is Sierra-Gulf-one-Bravo-India, requesting permission to leave the hangar. Have you cleared out my flight path?"

"Hello, Sierra-Gulf-one-Bravo-India, yes, all air traffic has been redirected. Your flight path is clear for two square miles. Have a safe journey, General," a young voice says in the radio, and Jack smiles.

"Do you need to file a flight plan for this thing?" Joy asks, her hands resting over her lap, afraid of touching anything and blowing up the aircraft by accident. "It's a five hour plus flight to Nevada in a commercial airplane."

Jack shakes his head smiling, "Flight plan? No, no need. I just don't want to bump into anything as I get out into the atmosphere, as they can't see me either by visual or instrumental eyes. And this babe doesn't fly commercial." He grins at her, grasping the controls and Joy immediately grabs the arms of the chair as she sees that the aircraft is now on the air, silently flying toward the open hangar doors. "Our ETA is in forty minutes, give or take. We'll go through the outer atmosphere."

He smiles at the shocked expression gracing Joy's face, and then looks back at the curious faces of Joy's team. "Welcome to O'Neill Express, one of the fastest ways of crossing the distance between to points. Please fasten your seatbelts, don't forget to raise your hands before going to the loo and please, if you get sick, don't puke on Uncle Jack's nice floor. Puke bags are available … somewhere under your seats." As he is speaking, the agents see the ship silently sliding out of the hangar and floating in the air over the base, slowly gaining altitude. They see Fort MacNair across the river, East Potomac Park to its left and the Navy Yard with the NCIS building to its right. Further in the back, as they also can see the green area of the National Mall, the lights of the Capitol and other important buildings of DC shining on the early evening hours. The ship then changes flight angles, its cockpit pointing up and it seems to increase speed, flying straight up towards the dark clouds hovering over the city, not once hinting its speed or gravity changes to its occupants.

It smoothly crosses the clouds as if they are made of cotton, and soon the aircraft is flying over them, towards the amazing dark blue carpet dotted with sparkling stars.

TBC


	15. A lot to explain

A/N: Have you ever imagined Jack explaining the Stargate program? Enjoy.

* * *

**_Chapter 15: _****_A lot to explain_**

The agents stay in awed silence during the first minutes of the flight, until Jack inputs a series of codes in the control panel and the ship seems to assume a specific trajectory, flying in an amazing speed into orbit of the planet.

He releases the controls and turns to glance at Joy and the agents behind him, who are gazing at the land moving outside of the windshield. He sees the amazed faces of the agents, the young kid with glasses and the old man with the funny bow tie looking astonished at their planet; the other agents are staring with the same awed expression on their faces. The only one who doesn't seem to be remotely happy is Joy, staring terrified at the space and beyond with huge eyes.

"You okay, kid?"

She turns huge brown eyes to him, and for a moment he sees the same vulnerable little girl he met in Joseph's kitchen so many year before reflected in her eyes again.

"No."

Jack nods, aware that everything they've seen up until now is overwhelming, but he mentally prepares himself to destroy all the foundations of what they've believed in World History so far.

"Ok. Here is the thing: as the genius over there said," he points to Jimmy, who turns to look at the General, "we're not alone. _We've never been._ Earth is just a very small piece in a very big stellar puzzle. I'm not good with long complicated stories, but basically there is this huge round thing called Stargate, which acts like a gate or portal to other Stargates located in other worlds in this galaxy and, in some especial cases, to some other galaxies as well. It works a little like a telephone: you dial an specific address, once it connects, you walk to the other side and - surprise - you're in another planet."

Jack pauses, and notices he has a captive audience staring at him astonished.

"This thing, the Stargate, was found in Egypt in 1920s by a bunch of archeologists who had no idea of its origin, its uses, yada yada yada. However our Government believed that it was some sort of weapon, and spent millions of dollars and years trying to figure out how the damn thing worked. They were able to make it work once, back in 1945, then again only back in 1996. And that's where I enter the story, as I was part of the first team to be sent through it to … well… check the other side for friend or foes. We've met some friends, some formidable foes and we blew up some bombs in the other side, yada yada, and…"

Jack scratches his head, sighing loudly trying to figure out how much info he could give them, "basically, I came back with my team saying that there was no threat, as I had blown it to smithereens."

He pauses, and stares at his hands for a moment, and Gibbs butts in the conversation, saying very low, "You've lied, haven't you?"

Jack looks at the team leader, and after a deep sigh, nods, "We blew up the sucker's mothership, but it was in orbit. There were thousands of innocent people living in the planet, people who had nothing to do with him but being used as slaves, so—"

"You set them free, destroying the conqueror who had ruled over them at the same time you eliminated the immediate threat to Earth," says Joy in a soft voice, turning in her seat to look at Jack, who glances up at her and nods.

"Yeah. We came back, I lied through my teeth to my commanding officer and told him that all was well in the universe."

He glances at the other agents, seeing Ziva distractedly touching her mouth with one of her fingers, staring at him completely focused on his story.

"A year after we came back, another snake came through the Stargate and kidnapped a person. A soldier. We were called back to explain why the threat had not been completely neutralized and then… well, we went back, and basically that's when the real exploration begins. Since then, they've created the Stargate Command to oversee the exploration of the network that connects all the Stargates spread throughout the universe, making new friends and allies and gathering intelligence against our enemies. We also try to bring technology to ensure that life in the world as we know it continues to exist, without it being blasted to kingdom come from outer space by a more advanced race."

He rubs his hands over his pants, then turns to glance at the controls to see if the ship is still in the programmed trajectory, "and there is a lot more, but this is just the basic stuff. You want more information, ask Daniel or Carter, they were from my team when we started out at the SGC, and they are much better at explanations of scientific or historic stuff than me."

He checks something on the panel, then glances at Joy, whose face is frozen in deep thought, her brown eyes staring fixedly at something on the panel. Her silence bothered him deeply, and the lost look on her face was different from the usually confident woman he had dwelt in the past.

"I couldn't tell you," he whispers softly, and as she glances up, Jack's heart breaks a little as a small tear escapes Joy's eyes, running down her face and hanging from her chin.

"Jack." Joy calls him out softly, in a quivering voice, and Jack can only guess that she's struggling very hard to hold on onto her nerves.

"Yeah." He looks at the windshield again, seeing that they have crossed two states already flying.

"How bad is it?" He glances at her, and sees her serious face studying him, reading him, profiling him.

"Kid, listen, what's—"

"Don't bullshit me, please." She says, her voice shaking with the force of her emotions, "I've glimpsed the schematics of some of the weapons mom's been building for the last years, and their blast power is… Jack, how many times have our lives been at stake? How many times have we been just an inch of being obliterated from existence and … we weren't even aware of the danger we were in?"

Jack stays in silence for a moment, Joy's words making an impact not only on the General, but at her teammates as well, who start thinking about the repercussions of the revelations just made by the General. While they were fighting crime on Earth, going through their daily lives, there were people, just like them, made out of flesh and blood, who were fighting to protect them from an enemy they were blissfully ignorant of, who could have destroyed their way of living in a blink of an eye, several times over, and they would have never been the wiser.

"Do you always have to see the glass half empty?"

"Yes, I do. Because that's my job. To make mental leaps evaluating information to…" her voice falters "to make educated decisions, but this…this..." she pauses, looking around the control panel, the alien writings, everything, "Jack, if all of this is true, _this is bad. This really bad."_

That shuts the General for some minutes, who keeps frowning and scowling at the control panel, trying to figure out what exactly he could reveal to the agents with him in the Tel'tak.

"Back in 1997, do you remember some strange fireworks in the sky?" Jack finally says, as he keeps piloting the ship, touching here and there in the control panel, "nobody knew exactly what they were, some people said they were comets, other said they were meteors burning up upon entry at the atmosphere?"

Joy keeps staring at Jack, shaking her head in denial.

"That was you?" Faith asks from her seat, and Jack nods.

"A couple of motherships from a really nasty snake found their way to Earth. We had to stop them." He pauses, thinking about what else he can reveal, "And in 2000, a Russian sub was destroyed in mysterious circumstances."

"It was you too." Gibbs says, seeing a pattern forming in the General's actions.

"They had an alien bug infestation. Nasty mechanical bastards." He glances again at Joy, who since his revelations, had grown paler, "and also in 2004, some strange happenings over Antarctica?"

"They said that it was an experiment gone wrong…" mutters Joy, shaking her head in disbelief.

"No, it wasn't." Jack types something on the panel, and corrects the trajectory of the ship, "it was a nasty battle. A lot of people died that day_. I _almost died that day." He looks at Joy briefly. "We almost didn't make it."

Joy shakes her head repeatedly, in denial. She releases her seatbelt and stands up, walking in hurried steps towards the cargo bay, leaving the General staring ahead. McGee releases his seatbelt and rushes after his girlfriend, finding her supporting her back against a wall in the back of the bay, slowly sliding to the floor, trying to control her panicked breathing. He mimics her seating, putting his arms around her shoulders. After some initial resistance, she crawls slowly onto his lap and hides her face on his neck, hugging him tightly as she shivers in shock, trying to process all she has been told.

Gibbs stands up and walks up to the seat vacated by Joy, and sits besides the General, who glances at him briefly before focusing on the flight plan again.

"I bet that wasn't what you were expecting to hear when you've found out that you would be read into the Project, uhm?"

Gibbs shakes his head, staring at the planet Earth slowly moving under the ship, as they flew in the outer atmosphere towards Nevada.

"Nope. That wasn't what I expected. Anything but that." He looks at the General, whose face is chiseled with seriousness, a very distant sight from the carefree man he had seen before. "So... the President is aware of this... Stargate."

"Whenever a new president is sworn in, a couple of hours after he joins the office there's someone from the Homeworld Security Office to read him into the threat to the planet. It has been like that for more than a decade."

"What about other countries? Are they aware of this... Stargate and the threat it represents to Earth?"

O'Neill cringes a little, "The Russians found their own little Stargate a couple of years after us, and started a parallel program. We had some clashes, then finally we had to inform some other countries as there was too much happening to coverup; people were getting anxious. A commitee to oversee Stargate usage and application was created, and so the IOA was born." He sees the confused look on Gibbs' face and smiles a little, "sorry, we military love our letter soup. IOA stands for International Oversight Advisory, a commitee to regulate and oversee everything we space cowboys do while exploring the universe. China, France, UK, Russia, all the big names are in there."

Gibbs keeps staring at O'Neill for a moment, then sighs deeply as he considers the implications of everything that has been revealed until then.

"Were you ever going to reveal it to us - to them," he points to the Buchanan sisters, two silently staring shocked at the man who they've known for most of their lives, who had just revealed a whole new world of information, another who had to flee his presence just to absorb it all, "if your hand hadn't been forced, if this explosion hadn't happened?"

"No." Jack answers after a small silent pause, "probably I would have left them keep living their lives in blissful ignorance of the threat they're in – that we're all in." He glances at Gibbs, who is staring at him with piercing eyes, "You had a daughter, didn't you? I believe her name was Kelly, according to your files."

Gibbs' eyes harden, and he glares at the General who turns to glare back with the same intensity at him, "Your point?"

"My boy's name was Charlie. He was my buddy. A wicked arm for baseball." Gibbs recognizes the same pain he feels when he thinks or talks about Kelly's in Jack's voice. Jack continues in a low tortured voice, "He shot himself with my gun back in 1996. I've never forgiven myself for that." Jack glances at Gibbs briefly, then back at the moving land under them, "but when he was alive, and he woke up in the middle of the night because he had nightmares, I used to tell him that he was safe, that monsters did not exist and, if they did, I would protect him from them, and soon he was asleep again." He looks again at Gibbs, his eyes dead serious, "I had no idea that I was lying then. Monsters do exist. But still today, kids only sleep peacefully if they don't know that."

"We're not kids anymore, Jack," says Faith, her arms around Hope's shoulders, who was still faintly shaking with shock.

"You'll always be to me, Faith." Jack disagrees softly, and touches a button that they soon find out connects the radio.

"This is Sierra-Gulf-one-Bravo-India, we're twenty minutes out. Can you give us an update on the situation on Nellis?"

"Sierra-Gulf-One, a marine platoon arrived ten minutes ago and we've managed to secure the perimeter and evacuate the seven higher levels, however it's a complete lockdown from level seven down. We haven't been able to establish communications yet, as the radiation is disrupting our radio waves. The internal security cameras were turned off during the first electromagnetic blast, but we're working to have it up and running by the time you arrive here."

"Any word on the Senators? Any idea where they might be?"

There is a short radio silence, in which everyone in the ship waits anxiously for the news. Finally, the radio cracks again, "If they were following the schedule, they would be at the Archeology department at Sierra Lima seventeen, and Dr. Jackson and Colonel Mitchell were acting as chaperones for them."

"Crap," mutters Jack, scratching his head irritated at finding out that Daniel and Mitchell were down there stuck in a radiation pit as well.

"Dr. Jackson as in Dr. Daniel Jackson? Your cute friend who is an archeologist?" Hope asks, her first words since her hysterical outburst at the hangar back in base.

"Yeah," Jack touches a control and the ship increases speed, "Have you contacted the Hammond? What is their ETA?"

"One hour at top speed, sir. Colonel Carter was really concerned for the safety of her former teammates as soon as she heard of the explosion, sir, so she is pushing the hiperdrive engines. "

"Of course she is. O'Neill out."

Jack sits back on his pilot chair, and Gibbs studies his face for second before asking, "The Hammond is not an airplane, is it?"

"Nope, it's a deep space carrier ship, Deadulus class. Huge honking thing. You'll like it."

TBC


	16. What are dreams for?

A/N: Wicked things this way comes...

* * *

**_Chapter 16: What are dreams for?_**

Sitting on the floor of the cargo bay, McGee could still feel the faint shaking and the erratic breathing of his girlfriend who apparently had just received the greatest shock of her lifetime. It's not an everyday occurrence that someone is told that we're not alone in the universe and that there are indeed aliens trying to invade Earth. Okay, maybe those weren't the exact words used by the General, but that _was_ the basic idea.

McGee lowers his head and inhales deeply the faint scent of peaches that he would always associate with Joy. She sighs and rearranges herself, sliding off his lap and sitting beside him on the floor, her head on the curve of his neck, closed eyes, still breathing deeply as if trying to overcome a panic attack.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Uhm… gimme a sec." She sighs loudly, and opens her eyes to stare at the strange alien bright light shining above the cargo bay.

"I know it's a lot to consider, but—"

"That's not it, Tim." Joy interrupts him, closing her eyes again and biting her lower lip, in an unconscious nervous gesture, at the same time Tony and Ziva come into the cargo bay and mimic them, sitting silently on the hard floor.

"Do you remember when I told you," Joy starts in a soft voice, without opening her eyes, "that I don't remember before? The time before being found and adopted by the Buchanans?"

McGee frowns at her question out of the left field, and glances briefly at Tony and Ziva, who are both looking at him and at his partner wondering where this conversation is going.

"Yeah, you've said that it was so bad that you've completely blocked it, only a vague sense of smell lingered after it."

"A bad smell, like something dead left to rot for several days," she adds, opening her eyes and looks at Tim, briefly glancing at Tony and Ziva before continuing, "I've lied. Lately, I've been dreaming and I can actually see snapshots, almost like faded sepia pictures, always distant, always blurry. With time, the images have become sharper, and in the last one, I could actually see this small little girl, and she's playing with something that I initially can't identify. The closer I get, the clearer the image becomes, and when I'm finally by her side, I see…" her voice falters, and McGee squeezes her shoulder in a side hug, silently offering her support to continue, "I see that the little girl is playing with an arm… a savagely cut-off decaying arm, its flesh is starting to decompose and it's not firm anymore to touch and... there's something wrong with it."

McGee sees the confused looks at their colleagues' faces, who are trying to follow the conversation.

"What do you mean… wrong?" Ziva asks her teammate, who is visibly struggling to make sense of the images in her dreams.

Joy studies her face for a moment, and finally says in a soft voice, "the arm is not human." McGee immediately tenses, and both Tony and Ziva glance at the direction where Gibbs is talking with General O'Neil. "The color is all wrong, and the decaying rate is strange – the skin is almost gummy to the touch - and there's this strange opening in its palm, that at first I've thought was a scar but… it wasn't; it was a mouth. Another mouth in the palm." Joy looks down at her own hand, staring at the palm as if she was afraid of finding what she has just described in her own hand, "And the smell… All I could feel was the overwhelming stink emanating from it, which was exactly like the one I remember from my past."

"Wait a second, what does the smell has to do with it?" Tony asks, still not really understanding what had shaken his teammate so. Joy glances at Tony sadly, and Tony can clearly see how painful it to Joy to reveal this tidbit of information to him.

"It's the same overwhelming odor I've detected since I've entered this ship. It's like a …" she waves her hands in the air, as if trying to make her point by gestures, as she is unable to translate her feelings into words, "It's as if there's a huge heavy cloud of misery and pain surrounding this place, as whoever's built and used this thing have destroyed many many lives and the evilness of them still lingers in the air."

She gulps and glances at McGee, "In my dream, the stink becomes stronger after each step I take closer to the little girl, and when I stand by her side she turns to look at me, and … _she is me_. A younger version of me, but me, from before being adopted by the Buchanans. She is there, sitting on the floor playing with a decaying arm of something inhuman and she stares at me, looking straight into my eyes and delivers a message."

"What kind of message?" Ziva asks, and she feels a shiver run up her spine as Joy delivers her dream message.

"The little girl says '_They're coming_' and points to the hand." Joy glances at McGee, shaking her head slowly as if trying to deny what she's saying. "I've just always imagined that it was a really twisted nightmare. I could never have imagined that there was the slightest chance of it being… real."

TBC


	17. Know thy enemy

**_Chapter 17: Know thy enemy_**

Ziva stares fixedly at Joy for a few seconds after her description of her nightmares, before standing up in a fluid move, walking toward the flight deck of the ship, interrupting the amicable chat between Gibbs and O'Neill who were comparing their teams' adventures in a low voice as they flew in an amazing speed over another state.

"General O'Neill, you have mentioned that you have met not only friends but also foes during your… exploration excursions. Who or what are these foes? What are their strengths and weaknesses and how can we prepare ourselves to fight them off?"

"Spoken like a true Mossad. Straight to the point."

Jack smiles briefly at Ziva, before continuing in a more serious tone. He also notices that they were joined in the flight deck by Joy, her boyfriend and the other tall agent, who is leaning on his back against the partition between the cargo bay and the flight deck.

"There are several different races we've encountered during our journeys. One more vicious than the other, all with the common objective to conquer, control, subjugate, even feed."

"What do you mean, feed?" Tony asks, leaving the wall behind and standing straighter, not without glancing briefly at Joy who seems to have become even paler.

Jack doesn't miss the worried looks the agent throws at the young profiler and continues, "There's a race we've encountered in our explorations of Pegasus Galaxy - the Wraith - they are actually the reason why the Gate builders… decided to … uhm… leave this plane of existence. They feed on … crap … it's hard to explain, but basically they suck the life out of the person just by touch." He notices the worried glances between the agents, and how Joy slowly sits down, as her shaking legs refuse to support her anymore. Her boyfriend sits beside her, and he has also a terrified expression on his face. "What? What's going on and you're not telling me?"

Ziva glances at Gibbs, who immediately goes on alert on at his agent's serious face, before asking the General "Is there any chance of these Wraiths be on their way to Earth to attack us?"

It's Jack's turn to go on alert now, "They are in another Galaxy, and they don't have hyperdrive capability to come all the way over here… The only connection of this galaxy to Pegasus is through the Stargate deep on Cheyenne Mountain where the SGC base is located and, in order to do that, first they would have to conquer the Atlantis base but for crying out loud, why are you asking me that?"

"Ziver, what's going on?" Gibbs requests an explanation, and fast, as he sees the tension building in his agents, and how Joy and Tim are clutching each other's hands in a deadly grip. Tony takes a step forward and starts to pace nervously in the flight deck, trying to explain what's in his mind.

"Why? Because the world is going crazy, that's why. We' just found out that little gray men exist – _grey_, not _green_ as the movies made us believe for so many years – we also found out that there are different races wanting to destroy our little corner in the universe and that there is a clear and present danger of us being attacked by life sucking vampires – not the nice cute looking ones who seduce you first before ending your life, like in the _Interview of the Vampire, Buffy_ or _Van Helsing_ or even in the crappy _Twilight_ movies, no – just by creepers who will suck your life by the extra mouth they have in the palm of their hands, that's why!" At each word, Tony gets more agitated, waving his hands excitedly on the air as he paces like a headless chicken.

"What are you talking about, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asks, just to be interrupted by Jack's low cursing.

"Where the hell did you get that information? That's classified!" growls O'Neill, just to be surprised when both Ziva and Tony glance back at Joy, who is sitting down beside McGee on the seats previously occupied by Gibbs. Both agents look like they've just seen a ghost.

Ziva points to Joy, "She saw it her dreams."

A sepulchral silence fills the flight deck at Ziva's words, and everyone turns to stare at the young woman who now has her face hidden on her hands, in a desolate instance.

"Nightmares. They were more like nightmares," she mutters in a low voice, as McGee runs a hand over her back in a feeble attempt of support.

"But that is not the point, is it? What really matters is what if her dream is real? A warning that they are coming. So, if there is the slightest chance of it being a … premonition of some sort… we have to be prepared for what it is coming towards us." Jimmy, who had been silent up until then, interrupts the conversation for the first time since his ominous affirmation as they boarded the Tel'Tak.

Both Gibbs and O'Neill turn to look at Joy, who feels the combined force of their stare on her, but doesn't lift her face from her hands. "It was just a nightmare. It wasn't supposed to be real."

Both O'Neill and Gibbs keep their gaze on the agent for a few seconds, before they look at each other. Both older men keep silent as they consider the new info, before O'Neill turns to the control panel and touches the radio comm again.

"Control, can you patch me up to SGC? I need to talk to Hank."

"Please hold, I'll patch you through." There is a moment of silence, then an airman from SGC comes into the line.

"General O'Neill, how can I help you?"

"Patch me to General Landry." He glances back at Joy, who is shaking her head silently asking him to disconnect the call. He ignores her desperate attempts to catch his eye and smiles tensely at Gibbs as a tenor voice comes on line.

"O'Neill, what is so important that you are calling me now? Aren't you on your way to Nellis?"

"Yes, I am, but I need you to do something for me. I need you to cancel all incoming and outgoing gate travel until we have the situation on Nellis sorted out. I also need you to send a message for Atlantis to do the same thing, and all offworld teams are to go to the alpha sites until we give them the green light that everything is back to normal."

Hank Landry, General and Commander of the Stargate Command deep into the Cheyenne Mountain, looked around his office, glancing briefly over the awards and the family pictures he had on the shelves as he sat back on his comfortable leather chair.

"Any specific reason for that? I can't simply let my men - _our men_ - stranded offworld without a good explanation."

"Let's say that it's a precautionary action. Think on the strategic level: right now all our eyes and focus are turned to the situation at Nellis. I know that you had to send some of your men to help in the rescue in Nevada. There's no better moment to a surprise attack to the SGC base than now. Daniel and Mitchell are in there with those senators; Carter is on her way, but if something happens, she will still take some time to arrive in here before she can give any substantial help."

"So it would be only a precautionary measure, just to avoid any trouble that might arise? Aren't we overreacting a little bit?"

Landry can't help but feel that Jack's hiding something from him. Something important, but for some reason the old general doesn't want to partake the information with him. But then, with all the problems O'Neill is walking into once he arrives in Nellis, maybe Landry is better off not knowing.

"Hank, believe me," Jack glances at Joy, who stands up and is now shaking her head, asking him to stop what he's doing, "I have good reason to put the base on alert. Just do it, ok?"

Hank agrees and after some plain pleasantries, both generals disconnect.

"Jack, it was just a nightmare."

"Kid, I've learnt the hard way not to ignore it when you have one of these insights."

She looks confused at him, wondering why he is being so insistent with that.

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you remember when Joseph had just brought you home to live with the Buchanan's, and I dropped by for a visit with Sarah and Charlie? He was a baby, and Sarah had to stay up all night as he couldn't sleep."

"Jack, I'm not following you."

"You were just a scaredy-cat, hiding inside laundry cupboards and always staring with huge eyes at whoever tried to talk to you."

Jack glances at Gibbs and at the other agents, who are following the conversation between them attentively, and he grabs something from inside one of his many pockets and throws it to Joy, who catches it midair.

Joy touches it delicately with her fingers, and finds that it's a patch, like the ones they put in armed forces uniforms on the shoulder sleeve insignia, with an inverted V and the delicate rendering of a circle on top of it, with the Earth image under it surrounded with strategic stars on a black background. She glances up, confused.

"What is this?"

"That's the Stargate Command Project Patch. One of the first ones they've designed. The symbol on it is the Earth chevron, essential for us to lock-in the address with Earth as the origin or destination point." He turns to stare at Joy, who is looking at him with a confused expression on her face. "That night, when I first met you in Joseph's kitchen, you drew that symbol on a piece of paper and gave it to me." She gazes fixedly at Jack, her eyes glazing over as she tries to remember the episode he's mentioning, but her mind comes up blank. "That was years before our first mission through the Stargate, and I've only remembered it after finding that piece of paper when I had to clean out the attic some years ago."

He turns on his seat, and checks their ETA for their destination, muttering over his shoulder, "I don't know how, but you knew then that I would be part of the Project, even before I knew there was a Project to be part of. Years later, when I was already working on it and tried to recruit you to work with us, and you turned me down – I mean, the Air Force down – I kind of dropped some hints to try to see if you had any idea of our work, but you were so intent on working with the FBI that nothing else mattered."

McGee finally stands up and goes to Joy's side, one hand over her shoulder and the other silent asking for the patch. She acquiesces and gives it to him, all the time frowning as her mind struggles to remember the event Jack has just described.

"I can't remember anything from that period. I have no recollection at all."


	18. Train ride of a lifetime

**_Chapter 18 Train ride of a lifetime_**

**_"Innocence is not pure so much as pleased, Always expectant, bright-eyed, self-enclosed" - May Sarton_**

**_Wednesday, November 25th 1987_**  
**_On the way to Glasgow, MT._**

Several adults walked by the little girl sitting quietly by the window, but no one approached her. She hugged a blue unicorn tightly against her chest as the Amtrak train sped up away from Illinois, crossing several states and going steadily to the West of the country.

She sometimes would nap, resting her tired head against the window pane using the unicorn as a pillow, just to be awakened later by the sound of the train passing over some crossroads and making a loud metallic noise, startling her out of her light slumber.

But whenever she woke up, she would look across her seat and see the smiling Commander watching over her sleep.

"Rest little one, we're still far away from our destination," he would say in a soft voice.

With his reassurances, she would soon fall asleep again. And so the time went by, and the train kept going.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

It was past midnight as the train slowed down on its tracks to enter Glasgow town limits. The Commander looked at the humans silently dozing through the passenger car, then at his little charge, who was snoring lightly holding her precious plush friend.

He stretched his hand and shook her shoulder lightly, waking her up. She blinked at him, trying to dissipate the veil of sleep from her eyes.

"We're here, get ready." She stretched her arms up and nodded, grabbing her faithful friend in one hand while the other held onto her little backpack, which contained her most prized possessions. Tal stood up and took her little suitcase, in which she put her donated stuff, and brought it to the floor from the upper shelf.

He stretched his hand to the little girl, who smiled up at him before taking his bigger hand in her smaller one, and followed him down the corridor towards the door. As soon as the train stopped at the Glasgow train station, both left the belly of the metal beast and walked out of the station towards the slumbering town, with desert streets with only some good-for-nothing rednecks driving their pickups towards to or from a bar in the middle of the night.

The Commander walked in sure steps, knowing exactly his destination, while the little girl looked around herself curiously, walking in a more sedate pace, staring at the closed down shops and empty streets with wide eyes, trying in vain to absorb everything as they walked in a hurry towards a place in the outskirts of the city.

They turned to the right and left the small town city center, entering a small street in which the houses had dilapidated fences, the gap between each house became bigger after each house they walked by until they finally entered a small country road, dark and covered with pebbles.

They kept walking down the darkened road towards an abandoned house a couple of yards further down, its iron gates already in an advanced state of decay for lack of proper care. The imposing house had once been yellow, but now it was a musty gray color, its once white windows were covered with wood panels, indicating that whoever once lived in that property had left a long time ago.

The Commander led the little girl towards a broken part of the fence, helping her to the other side with her little suitcase and backpack. Then, he guided her to the door in the back of the house, showing her how to open it with just a little push. They both entered the house, the door creaking loudly in the eerily silent night. The dust and dirty accumulated over all plane surfaces showed that the house had been condemned to years of neglect.

The Commander then led the girl to the stairs, guiding her around the rotten steps towards the upper floors, where at the end of a corridor they paused before the last door of a very long corridor. He glanced down at the little girl, before turning the handle for the door, revealing an ample bedroom, dominated by a huge oak bed, with white linens covering the bed, the small wardrobe and the chairs and other furniture pieces in the room.

The little girl let go of the Commander's hand and walked towards the bed, grabbing one corner of the linen bed sheet and dragging it away from the bed, startling a small nest of rats over the cushion. The small rodents scattered away, leaving just a pile of droppings and twigs.

She looked around the dirty room, then at the Commander, who just shrugged, "It's not the Hilton, but it will be warm during winter."

She sighed out loud, and started to methodically clean the dirty room, dragging the linens off of the furniture, checking the fireplace chimney, making sure there were no surprise blockages in it before going downstairs. She checked the faucets of the kitchen, which was also in a desperate state of abandon, but miraculously, there was running water. She started filling buckets with it, while she looked through the cupboards, finding some old cleaning products left behind when the old widow Maeve died seven years before.

After she got the buckets, the cleaning products and some brooms, she carried everything upstairs and started cleaning the room, taking the accumulated dust and evicting the current rodent residents from cupboards and other furniture pieces.

She went back downstairs, coming back only when she found some folding ladders which she used to take down the curtains, already falling apart from the seams. She put them aside, along with the other things she would burn later on.

After some exploration, she found some clean folded bed sheets on a top shelf of the closed wardrobe, filled to the brim with linens which the old Maeve carefully ironed and folded before her demise.

She made the bed with the clean linens, fluffed the pillows and looked around the room, smiling brightly at the Commander who nodded proudly at her, as she had cleaned the room impeccably, turning an abandoned place into a welcoming place to stay.

She frowned as she looked down at herself, as she was filthy from all the activities she had engaged, and needed to clean herself up before going to bed. But before all that, she needed to set up a fire to keep her warm. She went downstairs again, left the house by the backdoor and went to the edge of the garden, pausing here and there to collect some twigs or small branches that she might use to light up a fire.

Lighting up the fires, looking after the bedclothes, cleaning, polishing: all these activities were part of her usual chores at Master Swanson's house, so it wasn't a big deal for her to do it all over again. It was just a little bit special because there was no one shouting over her shoulder, or with a belt or whip ready to strike her if she was too slow or, God forbid, if she didn't do her chores up to his standards.

Once her arms were full of wood, she turned around and returned in the dark to the old abandoned house. She climbed the steps of the old stairs, arriving on the room she had cleaned and conquered as her own. She piled carefully the wood she had gathered beside the fireplace, and slowly piled some rotten cloths with some wood. As she palmed one of her pockets, she picked a box of matches she had found in her first incursion in the kitchen downstairs, and lit up the cloth. As the fire spread out, she blew at it, smiling as she started to feel the warmth coming from it.

She took a step back as the fire started to shine brightly and started taking her filthy clothes off, being extra careful with her just healed back. She brought one of the buckets with cold water closer to the fire and another one empty, which she had used to clean the room. She stepped inside the empty one and used a small cup to bring clean water over her head, dropping the clear liquid over her messy hair in a vain attempt to clean all the dust and dirty stuck to it. She grabbed one of the clean rags left from her cleaning fit and started scrubbing herself, her arms and legs, shivering lightly with the cold coming from the windows, and enjoying the warmth coming from the side where the fire flickered brightly. As she was clean to her satisfaction, she stepped out of the bucket, which was now filled with dirty water, and carried it to the open window and threw the dirty water in the garden bellow.

Closing the big window the best she could, there was still a small whisper of wind coming from a broken window pane in the top left corner of it. But about that, there was nothing the little girl could do about it.

She walked shivering lightly and still naked towards her backpack, and got a t-shirt out of it and slipped it on her clean body, hugged her blue unicorn and climbed in the now empty clean bed. The fire would keep on burning to ashes until later, and the dawn was coming closer after each minute. They had arrived past midnight, and it was almost morning when the little girl finished her cleaning.

The Commander approached her, and tucked her into bed, as she laid down on the fluffy pillows and covered herself with thick blankets which she had found in the cupboards of old Maeve. She had been a widow; her husband had died ten years prior to her, and all her siblings had died decades before, no children, leaving her house and all her possessions to no one. So the house stood there, untouched, for years and unclaimed, until someone decided what to do with it in the courts.

The little girl looked up at the Commander from her pillow fortress, and smiled as he touched her head kindly, brushing away the still wet curls away from her face.

"You'll be here temporarily. I'll arrange someone to come to get you, but for now, you will be warm and protected here." She blinked tiredly, and the old Commander smiled gently, touching the plush blue unicorn which has being tightly held in the little girl's hands. "Tomorrow things will be different, sleep little one."

She closed her eyes and fell asleep, just as the sun broke through the horizon, illuminating the plains of the small Montana town. The Commander stood straight as his charge fell into slumber, and turned around, staring at the two other guardians who had flanked them through out their journey, but not exposing their presence at any moment to the little girl.

"Is everything in place, Guilo?"

"Yes, sir."

Tal looks down to his human charge, and smiles thinly, fully aware of the tribulations yet to come in the little girl's life.

"Make sure that she's found by the Buchanans, and soon. The winter this year will be one of the coldest in the decade, and even though she is protected from cold in this place, I don't want to have her suffering from hunger."

"Yes, sir."

He turns to the bed, where the little girl is asleep, nods and transfigures into his celestial body. Gone are the jeans. the plaid shirt and cowboy boots; instead, he has white vests, with a deadly looking sword with shining golden hilt hanging from his leather belt. His wings were enormous, taking over most of the room with its wingspan.

"Report to me if anything happens," he ordered the two other angels and flew out the house, leaving behind the old dilapidated house and turning towards the other side of the city, where in a big house in Aitken Road, surrounded by barley fields from all sides and with a small river running parallel to the access road to it, the Buchanan family were slowly waking up and getting ready for another day.

He landed in the backyard, looked around the wide area flanked by a thin line of trees by all sides, the wooden benches and the big recycled wood table, built with the leftovers from some trees fallen during a very nasty thunderstorm they had more than a decade before.

He saluted with a nod the guardians he saw surrounding the property, and walked towards the porch, peeking throught the window inside the house at the intense activity of several children getting ready to go to the early morning service where Joseph works as a part-time reverend.


	19. Morning routine at the Buchanan's

**_Chapter 19 Early Morning routine in the Buchanan's househould_**

**_Thursday, 26th November 1987  
Buchanan's household_**

Thanksgiving Day

Since Joseph's accident which had permanently clipped his wings and planted his feet firmly on the ground, two years before, he started working as a chaplain for the Air Force base in Glasgow, but he later on started working at a small Baptist church in the small Montana town. He also became a stay-at-home dad, as he could be accessible to his children whenever he was working at his home office or in the few hours per week he stayed at the Church.

"Mr. Buchanan, Grace took my jacket! I want my jacket!" shouted ten-year-old Hope, snarling to her blood sibling and tormentor, twelve-year-old Grace, who was smiling over her hot chocolate towards her smaller sister. She shrugged gracefully, just to show off the white jeans jacket she had taken without asking permission from Hope's side of the wardrobe.

Both girls had been living in the Buchanan household for the last ten months, since their parents had died in a terrible car accident on the way to the base where Maggie had been working for the last three years and they had no living relatives. After a long talk with Maggie and with his father-in-law, the two girls were introduced into the clan but hadn't quite settled yet.

Grace instigated Hope's fury several times, pestering her little sister greatly, and the littlest sibling insisted on calling Joseph Mr. Buchanan, regardless of how many times he told her she could call him Joseph.

_Ah, the joys of being a stay-at-home dad…_

"It looks better on me anyway," said Grace, ignoring the pissed off look on her sister's face.

"Grace, give the jacket back to Hope," Joseph said without looking up from where he was helping three-year-old Matthew with his banana puree, while the little boy waved his little hands excitedly trying to rub some of his food over his hair, whimpering lightly as his efforts were thwarted by Joseph's fast reflexes.

"But it matches my Back to the Future T-Shirt! I promised Eve that I would use matching colors today! I won't give it back!"

"Ah, you will," Joseph turns to stare down the little stubborn little girl, who is fuming looking at him, "either you return the jacket or you go without jacket AND without the Back to the Future T-Shirt. You choose."

"But then I would go naked to church!" she said looking shocked at the conditions Joseph was imposing to her.

"You could always use one of Mark's Transformer's T-shirts," Joseph offered glancing sideways to his seven-year-old son, who was shoveling food as fast as he could into his mouth. Once he realized that everyone at the table was staring at him, he glanced up from his bowl of cereal and glares back at them, talking with his half-full mouth. "Whaat?"

Joseph sighed loudly at his son's table manners, "Chew before you swallow, Mark. We're not interested in seeing how much cereal you can stuff into your mouth at a time."

The dark haired boy blinks and starts chewing furiously his cereal, then turns his attention back to his food.

"Grace would look preeety with Megatron's t-sssirrt," says five-year-old Luke, playing with his bread and peanut butter sandwich, the missing tooth at the front adding a little lisp on his speech. He smirked at the older girl, who, from the height of her twelve years old pedestal, thought herself special as she was the oldest kid living in the house. The two oldest Buchanan children were away: The oldest one, nineteen-year-old John was attending his NROTC Grad course while seventeen-year-old Faith had just moved out to attend Duke, also on a scholarship.

She glares venomously at the little boy, who makes a face at the older snarky girl. Joseph stared down at the little boy, who, as soon he sensed his father's eyes on him, wiped out the smartass smirk on his face and focused on destroying his sandwich.

The door leading to the backyard opened, and a corpulent blonde woman with bright blue eyes and rosy cheeks entered the kitchen, shouting her hellos to the kids as she took her jacket and scarf off and placed them on the coat hanger in the laundry room, not before stuffing her gloves into the pockets.

"Hello, Reverend B. Hello Kids. Are you ready to celebrate Thanksgiving? Hello Hope, such beautiful face shouldn't be marred with a frown." She leaned towards the little girl, and whispered in a tone so all the kids could hear it, "it leaves marks on your skin, you don't want that, do you?"

Hope immediately touched her forehead, trying to find marks the blonde mentioned. Joseph turns his back to the little girl, trying to hide his smirk at Heidy's smart tactic: if there was one thing that Hope was even more worried about than her wardrobe, it was her looks.

"Hello Heidy, thanks for coming earlier today," he said to Heidy Nass, a tall blonde who was of German descent and whose parents had lived there most of their lives. After retiring of her position as a University Professor at Montana State University, she had moved back to the little town where her parents had resided until their deaths to enjoy the simple life in Nowhere, Montana, as the residents used to call Glasgow. She had a cheerful nature, with a wicked sense of humor and a _don't-mess-with-me_ attitude that was quite welcome in the Buchanan household, whenever she came to offer some help with the unruly tribe of pagans running around the living room.

As soon as Matthew saw Heidy, he started to get agitated on his high chair, his chubby arms up begging her to take him into her arms. She smiled and granted the little boy his wish, kissing his soft hair. A divorcee for a couple of years, Heidy hadn't married again, despite her efforts to find another man to share a life with. Her biggest regret was not having any children on her own, so she worked as part-time nanny just to help the reverend and his wife and also to enjoy the antics of children around her.

So, meanwhile, she was very active at the same church Joseph and Maggie attended services and worked part-time as a nanny for the Buchanans, helping whenever Maggie was away working wherever the Air Force sent her.

She took the little boy in her arms, who immediately planted a wet kiss on her cold cheek. Joseph shook his head and stood up, eager to get ready to leave. He looked around at the kids, each one in a very different state of attire: both Hope and Grace were already in their Sunday best, while Mark and Luke were still in their pjs.

"Can you handle them for a few minutes? I have to finish my sermon for today." Heidy waves him away, setting him free to go to the home office in the back of the house, while she starts poking at Mark's back, asking him to slow down with the food.

"Still inhaling your food, uhm? This boy will eat your house out, Reverend B. Hear me out." She turns to the little boy in her arms, snuggled between her ample breasts, "but this one here, he's my boy. He's my little angel, uhm?" Matthew giggled and hid his head on her neck, smearing smashed banana he had on his face on her neck.

"Oh, we gotta clean you up, Matt," she starts wiping his hands and little mouth, while he twisted his torso in her arms, trying to get away from the cloth in her hand. "Go, reverend, I have everything under control."

He shakes his head lightly at the antics of his boy in the nanny's hand, before rushing out of the kitchen, not before giving a last warning to the two blonde girls, "Grace, give the jacket back, or you will be grounded, and no going out to your friend's place after the service."

"You can't do that!" Grace's fury boils out in a red blush on her face, "You can't place me under house arrest! That's child abuse."

"Whatever, but my word is final, young lady!" Having said that, he left the kitchen and ran to his office, where the piles of paper on his desk were a silent testimony of his whole night's struggle to write a decent Thanksgiving message. He sits at his desk and looks around his small home office, with several pictures of his older children hanging side by side with pictures of the younger ones. There is new a section where they added the pictures of the two blond girls, and another one for their parents, so they don't feel disconnected from their past.

Joseph sighed out loud, as he glanced at that last picture, where he could see his Senior Master Sergeant's family picture, one of the last taken by the family before the car crash that took his and his wife's lives and left the two little girls abandoned to the world. As Chaplain, he had given counseling sessions to the Sergeant many times after he came from missions that should not be named, and he had been appalled when the young man's family was torn apart and his children left to the State's care.

His thoughts were immediately taken back to Detroit, and a small tanned face with big brown eyes floated before his eyes for a second. The little street urchin's face had stolen his wallet after he had given her a hot chocolate and cake still haunted his mind. He was mad at first for being taken by the oldest trick possible in the book, but later on as the train rolled through the fields towards Montana he remembered her huge eyes as she tasted the chocolate cake, round with surprise at its taste, he couldn't help the little smile from forming on his face.

_Let her keep the money_, he thought, _she needs it more than me._

His only regret was the loss of his small personal photo album that he had always carried in his pocket, with pictures of John, the two girls, baby Mark when he was just a little toddler and his favorite, Maggie heavily pregnant with Faith, their first girl.

He leans back on his chair and turns to face the high windows, showing the backyard and the trees moving with the wind. The sun was peeking behind the boughs of the trees, and the fields of barley were softly moving in the wind. He considered his life, his family, his achievements, and finally the little abandoned child who stole his wallet back in Detroit.

He had a lot to be thankful for.


	20. Beautiful and Cold Montana

**_Chapter 20: Beautiful and Cold Montana_**

**_After Thanksgiving day and before Christmas 1987_**

The little girl was exhausted after the long journey cross country, so she slept the whole day and night, waking up only Saturday morning, when her little stomach loudly complained that she hadn't eaten anything substantial for a while.

She left the bed slowly, hugged her unicorn and descended the stairs slowly with her pink backpack towards the kitchen. She took a chair and pulled it towards the sink, climbed it and slowly completed her morning routine, brushing her teeth, washing her face and trying to comb her hair just like the lady in the shelter used to do, but it was still hard to do it and it was still a little bit askew.

After having finished, she climbs up the stairs again to her bedroom and separates some clothes for today, as she has to go to the city to forage for food and money. However, before leaving, she climbs on the bed again and opens with very delicate hands the wallet with the nice pictures of people smiling.

She touches with light fingers the picture of the blonde girls smiling, sighing out loud as she climbs down the bed, puts the wallet inside her backpack and leaves to the the house heading towards the small town.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

In a small community like Glasgow, Montana, where everybody knows everybody and everyone is aware of everyone's business, the appearance of a strange kid with a Hello Kitty backpack walking unaccompanied through the streets was bound to make people take notice.

But still after some weeks, after people started complaining to the sheriff about petty robberies happening, people would still take some time to connect the presence of the strange kid to the robberies happening in town.

At first, it was a wallet here and there. Nothing much, just a couple of bucks went missing, but still, it was a hassle. Later, some folks from the Southern part of the town complained that some pieces of clothing disappeared from their clothesline.

"Imagine, what someone could possibly want with my Dennis's trousers?" asks Nadia to the Sheriff, as she reports the disappearance of her boys' clothes to the Sheriff, who just nods and writes it down in his report, adding it to the pile of odd occurrences in his town.

Another odd thing that one person informed the sheriff was that someone, for some reason, decided to clear out the garden of Old Maeve's house. That wasn't a crime per se, as the house had been abandoned for years, but it was still, you know… _odd_. Where only weeds and dried out branches were piling around Maeve's garden, now it was completely clean, the old rose twigs were trimmed and covered with delicate garden bags, protecting it from the incoming snow, which would soon cover the land. Come spring, as the snow melted away, the rose buds would open again to flourish in Maeve's favorite part of the house, her garden.

The most daring – and funniest – robbery was of Old Joan's pumpkin pie. The old widow had spent a good part of her morning preparing the pie to take to the luncheon after the morning service at church, and was quite happy with the end result.

She put the pie on her window sill to cool off, and turned around to clean the dishes and pans she had used to prepare the pie. Once she cleaned the dishes, she turned around and lo and behold, the pie was gone.

She looked down her window, walked around her garden and even accused the teens which used to hang around her street of stealing her pie.

No culprit was found for it, no one claimed responsibility for the pie kidnapping and the pie remains missing until today.

That is, until the day that the petty thief stole the wrong person in town… The Sheriff himself.


	21. Growing Mystery

_**Chapter **__**21: Growing Mystery **_

Joseph was laughing a lot as he saw Mark in his Spiderman pjs trying to mimic Grace's haughty pose walking on Maggie's high heeled shoes. Grace's face was completely red as Mark and Hope were rolling on the living room floor, tears of laughter on their faces, while Matthew and Luke just glanced at the two older kids for a couple of minutes before turning to look again at their Lego project, which they had been trying to build the whole evening.

All kids had showered and were just hanging around the living room, while Joseph was studying his cello, which he started playing shortly after his accident, just to occupy his hands and time, and to keep his mind off the wounds and scars left on his body from his crash.

The phone rang, breaking the festive atmosphere in the room, and Hope jumped along with Mark, running towards the phone trying to outrun each other.

"I get it," says Mark.

"No, I get it," shouts Hope, trying to grab the phone from his hands in a tug of war.

"No, squirt, I will!"

The two kids struggle for the phone and Grace just rolls her eyes at the two silly kids and goes to the kitchen, answering the phone in the other base.

"Mr. Buchanan, it's for you," she shouts from the kitchen.

Joseph puts the cello on the floor, plays with Matthew's hair and smirks at the two kids, who are still fighting over the phone. Grace hands him the phone, and Joseph raises his eyebrows silently asking who's on the line, "The sheriff for you."

"Sheriff?"

He glances back at kids, who had returned the phone to the base and to the two younger ones silently piling Legos one on top of the other. He waits for Grace's return to sit beside her sister, who promptly gets a board game and they start bickering about who is going to start.

"Buchanan speaking."

"Hi Reverend, it's Sheriff Clayborn."

"To what I owe the pleasure of your call? Do you need my services?"

"Actually," the sheriff turns around and looks at the dirty little girl, who is sitting forlornly on the chair in the interrogation room, her grubby fingers making abstract swirls on the table top, "I'm calling you on an official capacity. I've just found something that I believe belongs to you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, your wallet."

That makes Joseph pause. His wallet had been stolen weeks before, in Detroit. How…

"I don't understand, are you talking about my wallet?"

"You had it stolen, hadn't you? Like so many other people in the town, we had a rush of petty robberies since Thanksgiving and I've just arrested the thief. Silly creature tried to take mine, can you believe that? Your wallet was one of the recovered ones. Can you please come to the station?"

Joseph turns to the living room, looking at the kids silently or, in some cases, not so silently, playing before the fireplace.

"I need someone to look after the kids, Maggie is reporting to DC this week. Give me ten minutes and I'll be there."

After they disconnect, he immediately dials another number he knows by heart.

"Hi Heidy, I need a favor. Can you look after the kids for me for one hour tonight? I have to go down the Police station." Heidy says something, but he barely hears it as his mind is rushing trying to figure out the mystery before him, "thanks Heidy, just put them to bed, they are all in their PJs, ok? Thanks."

He returns to the living room, and starts packing his music sheets, cleaning his cello to put it back on its case. Grace, being the oldest, immediately notices something is amiss.

"Something wrong, Mr. Buchanan?"

He pauses and stares at the blonde girl, her long hair carefully braided falling over her shoulder, trying to figure out what to say to her in order not to alarm her.

"I don't know. It's probably nothing. I've called Heidy, she's going to help you all to your beds. I have to go down the station."

"But you promised you would play the bumblebee music, Mr. Buchanan!" says Hope, mentioning a trill exercise he had been doing last week that the girls had immediately said that it sounded like an insect flying.

"Later, now you all, pack your things, you're going to bed."

"Ahhh, but…"

"No buts. Matthew, time to sleep, buddy. Luke, put everything in the box, ok?" He takes the smallest boy in his arms, whose arms are flaying trying to go back to the Lego game, and starts walking towards the stairs leading to the upper floor where the kids bedrooms were. He gently puts the young boy in his bed, giving him one of his favorite teddy bears. The little boy sniffles a little and rubs his face on his bear, "Stoorieee?"

"Sorry Matthew, no story tonight. Tomorrow, I'll read you two stories, ok?"

"Two, not one. Promise?" Matthew lifts his hand, looking cross-eyed to his two fingers up, then looks up at his father, who simply snickers at his negotiation skills.

"I promise. Two stories."

"Good, nighty nighty." He leans back against his pillows and closes his eyes, hugging his teddy and already blinking sleepily.

"Good night, son."

He goes to the door and leaves it half opened, going down the corridor to see if Mark and Luke are already in bed. The two boys are in their beds, Mark with his head inside one of John's Star Wars Comic and Luke is lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Why do we have to go to bed early? I don't want to," whines Luke, who looks at Joseph with a pout.

"I have to go out for a while, come on, under the blanket," he helps the five-year-old and once, the boy is settled, he rests his hand over his chest and looks into his eyes, "I'm just going to talk to the sheriff, it's probably nothing, and when I'm back I want to see you all asleep, ok?"

The little boy chewed his lower lip and squinted at Joseph, "Does he _has_ a big gun? Is he _gonna_ show you his gun?"

For a kid, Luke had an amazing curiosity about guns and weapons. But then, considering that his whole family had been butchered in a gunfight when he was just a little baby, it was understandable. He had no memory of his birth parents, and frankly, for now, it was how Joseph and Maggie preferred him to be until he got old enough to understand what had happened to his birth parents.

"I really hope he doesn't show me his gun. Otherwise I'll have to beat the crap out of him. And that would be a crime." The little boy giggled and settled down on his Superman pillow.

"Good night, daddy."

"Good night, son." He kisses the little boy's head, then looks at Mark, who is looking at him over his comic book. The boy and the adult are in a staring match for a minute, before Joseph relents.

"Finish this one, then bed." Mark smirks at his temporary win, then settles back on his pillows to finish the comic.

In the corridor, he hears the sound of voices coming from the girls' bedroom, and popping his head inside their room, he's not surprised to find Heidy brushing Hope's hair before going to bed, while Grace is with her pink diary on her lap, probably writing all the grievances she has to suffer in the Buchanan household for the generations yet to come.

"Everything under control here?"

"Sure, I'll just hang around the girls and then make sure the boys are asleep later on. Go, the sheriff is waiting."

He smiles tensely towards the nanny and rushes to his own room he shares with Maggie, throws a fresh pullover over his clothes and goes to the car, not before grabbing his aviator's leather jacket from the hook by the door.

As he starts his pickup, he keeps wondering how the wallet that was stolen several weeks ago in Detroit was found in Montana, and he keeps on thinking about this mystery the whole way to the station.


	22. Finally we meet again

a/n: I believe I have a new favorite band. For your better enjoyment of this chapter, look the following video in youtube and listen to it on the background: **_Casting Crowns - Does Anybody Hear Her_**

* * *

_**Chapter 22: **__**Finally we meet again**_

_She is running  
A hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction_

_(…)_

_Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?  
Or does anybody even know she's going down today  
Under the shadow of our steeple  
With all the lost and lonely people  
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me  
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?_

_She is yearning  
For shelter and affection  
That she never found at home  
She is searching  
For a hero to ride in  
To ride in and save the day_

_(…)_

_If judgment looms under every steeple  
If lofty glances from lofty people  
Can't see past her scarlet letter  
And we've never even met her_

_(...)_

_Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?_

**_Does anybody hear her? – Casting crowns_**

Joseph stops his car before the small precinct, and zippers up his leather jacket before leaving the heated car and heading towards the door. He tries the door, finds it unlocked and enters the reception area, which has an odor of wood mixed with sweat lingering in the air: the first coming from the old wooden cabinets and counters which dominate the small room, the second coming from the drunk hobo sitting carelessly on the waiting area, his hand handcuffed to the chair leg, waiting for one of the officer on duty to finish booking him.

The receptionist works only during the day. During the evenings, the Sheriff and the two deputies alternated their working days, as Glasgow wasn't a big city with a huge number of crimes being committed every day. They had their vagrants, their drunkards and the rare domestic disturbances.

He puts his hands on his jacket pockets, waiting for someone to come to the reception upon hearing the small bell over the door, and smiles when Sheriff Clayborn appears down the corridor.

Tall, with a barrel sized chest and thick arms, Sheriff Clayborn was a sight to behold. His face was chiseled with lines which were silent testimony of time spent under the sun, while working as a Homicide detective in a big city in the East Coast for many years. But his wife asked for a calmer simple life, and when the opportunity for becoming a Sheriff in a small town came up, he didn't think twice about it. He hasn't regretted it since then, despite his occasional complaints about how dead the little town was. No deaths or kidnappings to investigate, just the occasional bar brawl.

"Reverend Buchanan, great timing. I was about to go talk with the little thief again." Both men shake hands energetically, and the sheriff waves the reverend in, guiding him down the corridor to one of the two interrogation rooms they had in the precinct.

"Good to see you, Clay. I have to tell you, I don't know how you might have found my wallet here in Glasgow, as I had it stolen in Detroit."

Clay smiles sideways as he walks beside the reverend, "ahh, but our thief is not local. At least, I don't think she is."

The sheriff walks towards his tiny office, opens a drawer in his table and hands the wallet out to Joseph, who looks through it. Indeed, it's his old wallet, with all his pictures and documents and stuff. Only the money is gone. The sheriff walks around his table and starts walking towards the end of the corridor, the reverend a few steps behind.

"Haven't you interrogated the culprit yet?" Joseph notes Clay's befuddlement, as he scratches his five o'clock shadow in deep thought.

"I would love to, but you see," he stops before the mirror glass showing the inside the interrogation room, and Joseph is momentarily struck speechless, as inside is the little girl from Detroit, "the kid is mute. She just keeps staring at me and leaning her head from one side to the other, as if I was an interesting bug she would love to study. I think she might be a little retarded as well, as she sometimes stares at the wall or at the corner of the room as if something is there, and that's when she even has some facial expressions, but when she's in my presence, she just stares at me unblinkingly, and that irritates me so."

"It's her," Joseph takes a step towards the glass, and observes the little girl who is sitting in a chair too big for her size, her little legs hanging well above the floor. Her face and hair are dirtier than when he met her in Detroit, her clothes had seen better days, but those dark brown eyes were hard to forget.

"So, you know her."

"Yeah, she's the street kid who stole my wallet in Detroit."

Sheriff Clayborn snickers out loud, "Detroit? Man, if that's her hunting grounds, she's very far from there. As far as I know, she has been stealing wallets and other stuff for the last couple of weeks here in town. Menial stuff, a cake here, a bottle of milk in a fridge there, even winter clothes hanging in a clothesline disappeared thanks to her. How did she get here?"

"I have no idea," mutters Joseph, staring at the little girl blowing a raspberry and staring sightlessly at the wall, rocking her upper body slowly as if to comfort herself.

"If she really is the kid from Detroit, besides sending her to a temporary home, we will also have to contact the child services in Detroit, in order to check if she's been missing from their system."

"You are sending her to a home?" Joseph turns now to look at the Sheriff, imagining all the horrible things that might happen to her in such environment.

"Well, it's not like I have many options, do I? It's too late to have her transferred to the capital, so I'm still thinking about where I'm going to send her to sleep tonight. Tomorrow I'll hand her to child services, and pray that one of their social workers can come soon enough to get her out of my hands."

Joseph turns again to interrogation room, his stomach churning with nervous energy, the thoughts in his head going in thousand different directions but all of them are about that little girl leaning her dirty face against the tabletop.

There are the kids, and Maggie would get mad at him, initially, but he has sweet talked her into many things lately, maybe… but this is huge, what if it doesn't work out, what if it's the wrong decision, but… ahh… But a home? Where she would be defenseless, being mute and so tiny… no, he won't… but…

"Let me talk to her," finally Joseph says, feeling a faint tremor running up his spine as he faces the certainty that starts to form in his head.

"Talk? Reverend, which part of mute you didn't understand? She's retarded, she can't even understand you." The sheriff points to the little girl, "Believe me, I know. I've tried."

Joseph smiles tensely to the sheriff, "Good, then there's no problem for you to let me some minutes alone with her, right? There are several ways to communicate with someone other than speaking."

The Sheriff studies the stubborn reverend for a minute, then shrugs, dismissing him, "ok, but it's on your neck, not mine, if she does something to you. So be careful in there."

"What could she possibly do to me? She's what? Nine? Ten?"

"Whatever," the sheriff mutters walking towards the door for the interrogation room, and grabs his arm, catching the reverend's attention before he opens the door, "_if_, and I'm being very optimist here, _if_ she's the kid who stole your wallet in Detroit, you have a stalker on your hands. I don't care how young she is, so you better be careful about the information you give to her. I repeat, be careful in there."

The sheriff says that with all seriousness in the world, and Joseph nods, agreeing with him. Clay opens the door, and lets the reverend into the interrogation room, and Joseph freezes when he enters it, faintly hearing the door closing behind his back.

The click of the door catches the little girl's attention, who lifts her face from the dusty tabletop and stares at Joseph for a second, and he can see the exact moment she recognizes him.

She smiles, a huge relieved smile that illuminates her entire doll-like face, and stretches her grubby little hands towards him, trying to reach him out.


	23. Meeting her future

A/N: Another amazing music from my brand new favorite band starts this chapter. Again, this whole chapter was based on this song, so feel free to look it up in youtube and listen to it in the background. It fits perfectly. Casting Crowns, Love them like Jesus (live)

* * *

_**Chapter 23: **__**Meeting her future**_

_The love of her life is drifting away  
They're losing the fight for another day  
The life that she's known is falling apart  
A fatherless home, a child's broken heart_

_You're holding her hand, you're straining for words  
You're trying to make sense of it all  
She's desperate for hope, darkness clouding her view  
She's looking to you_

_Just love her like Jesus, carry her to Him  
His yoke is easy, His burden is light  
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions  
Just know that He loves her and stay by her side  
Love her like Jesus  
_

**Love her like Jesus – Casting Crowns**

The little girl had her face leaning against the table top, and lifts it up to look at the person who entered the room where she had been held for the last four hours. Her stomach was hurting a little, as the huge man caught her as she was trying to steal his wallet so she could buy something eat that evening.

She hadn't been successful in the last three days, and she was already feeling a little bit faint with hunger. Her eyes finally rest on the man, and she can't help feel the happiness bubbling in her little chest as the man who smells like flowers enters the room, filling it with its amazing aroma. She instinctively stretches her hands towards him, ignoring the filth of working in Old Maeve's garden stuck under her fingers and silently asks him to hold her.

His face blanks out for a second, as indecision transpires out of his every pore, but finally he takes two steps and gathers her in his big arms, and the little girl immediately wraps her dirty arms around his neck and rests her face on the curve of his neck, settling her down comfortably on his lap as he sits on the chair beside hers.

He hugs her tightly against his chest, and for the first time since the Commander brought her to this strange town she feels safe. She smiles a little, and closes her eyes to better enjoy the perfume of his soul, so different from the disgusting reek that permeated the people she had to dwell with in the Master's house.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Joseph hesitates just for a few seconds at her silent request, but the father's instinct in his heart speaks louder than any rational thought in his mind and he instinctively steps forward and gathers the little girl into his arms. She immediately wraps her arms around his neck, and Joseph feels tears slowly pooling in his eyes as he lowers his head against her dirty hair, as he feels the fragility of her skinny body under his fingers.

She's lost weight since the last time he saw her in Detroit; her clothes are dirty and threadbare in some places, overlapping new with old pieces, trying to protect her fragile body from the biting winter in Montana.

The little girl sighs and rests her grubby face against his neck, her warm breath touching his skin and he realizes that it's the only thing warm on her. Her skin is cold and clammy against his fingers; her once tanned skin is yellowed due to undernourishment and lack of sunlight. She's shaking lightly. For a moment he feels bitterness and anger in his chest, as he thinks of the sheriff who treated the little girl as a convicted felon staying in this isolated room for God knows how many hours, but then he realizes that she is a thief: the sheriff, despite his certain callousness, was only doing his job.

He leans back a little on the chair, one of his hands going to her chin and rising her face to look at him, and he's astonished with the intensity of her stare, as she studies his face carefully before she smiles faintly at him and uses one of her dirty fingers to touch his nose, as if pressing a button. He smiles at her childlike act, and she smiles brightly back at him before resting her head against his chest again and sighing out loud.

"What's your name?"

Only silence is his answer, and she plays with the patch of his Air Command sewed on the front of his aviator's jacket, her little fingers following the stitched lines with a frown on her face.

"How did you get in here? The last time I saw you, you were in Detroit."

She sighs again, and sits straighter on his lap, to look at the other patches attached to the other side of his jacket. She looks at it, trying to figure out the symbols in it.

He notices that she is not paying attention to him, paying more attention to his jacket than to his face, then he reaches into one of his pockets and gets his wallet out. He immediately notices how she perks up when she sees it, "Did you travel all the way from Detroit to Glasgow to return me this?"

She stretches out her hands and grabs the wallet from his hand, turning her back to him and leaning towards the table to better play with its contents. Joseph deposits the little girl in the other chair, and leans forward to see what she's doing. He sees that she goes directly to his photo album, carefully taking each picture from its protective plastic and putting them on the table, one beside of the other.

Once she has all pictures on the table, she keeps moving them, changing the order, putting it in the order more to her taste. Once the pictures are according to her desire, she turns to him looking expectantly at him, waiting for his verdict.

"That's my family. That's why you are here? You want to meet my family?"

The little girl kneels on the chair, and leans over the table, pointing her finger to each kid on the pictures, and finally points to him. He shakes his head, not fully grasping what she wants to tell him. She sighs exasperated and rolls her eyes at him, then points to each kid and at Maggie, then at him, then leans over towards him, and uses her dirty fingers to poke his face, one of her fingers in each corner of his mouth, pushing its corners up in a caricature of a smile.

He looks at her as she pokes him in the face, then at the pictures on the table, and realizes they all have something in common. "We're happy. We're smiling in all the pictures. Is that what you want to show me?"

She sits comfortably on her chair, stretching her little legs from under herself, and supports her elbow on the table and her head on her hand, and stares longingly at the pictures of the children smiling and playing gaily. Her forlorn expression as she gazes at the pictures is heartbreaking, and Joseph feels a tight band squeezing his chest as he realizes that his pictures were the only image of happiness that little girl had to go on.

He prays for guidance for a moment, but in his heart his decision is already made, and each second he looks at the sad little girl cements his resolve.

She rubs her little nose with one her hands, sticks one of her dirty fingers into one of her nostrils, digging something inside and once she finds the little booger, she takes her finger out of her nose to study it then stretches her arm to clean her finger under the table. Joseph frowns and reacts instinctively, as he has done with most of his kids.

"Don't do that," he grabs her arm, stopping her from sticking the booger under the table and reaches into his jeans pocket, gets a cloth handkerchief and cleans her hand. She studies his actions silently, staring at his face with curiosity.

He finishes cleaning her hand, but notices that the dirty continues going up her arm, impregnates her clothes and her threadbare trousers, which for some reason seem to be some sizes bigger than her own size.

"Can you stay here for a moment on your own? I gotta talk with the sheriff, and I'll come back for you, ok?"

The little girl keeps her eyes fixed on his face and silently nods. Finally he stands up and walks towards the door, not before throwing a last glance at the little girl, who has turned her attention to Maggie's pregnant picture, touching the picture with her grubby fingers as if trying to touch the people in it.

With that image burning in his brain, he leaves the room and finds the sheriff leaning against the corridor wall, looking at him with a small smile on his face.

"So?"

"What do I have to sign to have her released into my custody?"

Even before he finishes his questions, Clay is already shaking his head, snickering lightly, "Somehow, when I saw you two together I knew you would ask me that. That's not a stray puppy you find in the street and take home. That's a thief, a little child, but a thief nonetheless. Man, are you insane? Maggie will kill ya!"

"I see," Joseph turns to look at the forlorn child, "I'm allowed to offer shelter to a stray dog but if I think about taking a child - a human child - home I'm called insane. You don't even know where she will sleep tonight, and look at her," he points to her, "she needs a good scrubbing, a warm plate of food and a clean bed. If you send her to a home, she will be just another sorry creature lost in the system, and I really doubt she will receive either of those things. I can offer her that, and I can care for her, better than anyone you might find in the Child Care system. What's so wrong in that?"

Clay still tries to convince him otherwise, "Reverend, I'm not questioning your intentions, which I know are based in your big caring heart, but think about it, man! You already have five kids home, three of them adopted! You already have to support two kids through university, and I shiver when I think what your school bills will be in a couple of years when the little ones reach higher education. Maggie is away working God knows where, and I really doubt she will be happy when she arrives home and finds six, not five kids at the dinner table."

"But Clay, she followed me here," Joseph looks at Clay, and the sheriff sees that the good Reverend is becoming emotional with the little girl's plight, "She has probably kept my wallet this whole time, looking at my family pictures over and over again, trying to imagine what being part of a family like mine would be. She has travelled through half the country just because she wanted to see me again. Do you really think I can walk away from that? From her?"

Both men stay in silence, standing before the mirrored glass, looking at the little girl as she moves the pictures of the table, sometimes picking one or the other, bringing it closer to her face to stare at it, a frown of concentration on her face.

"We gotta wake up Judge Osmond," says Clay in a defeated voice.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"You know," says Guilo, leaning against the wall of the interrogation room, earning only a brief glance from the little girl before she turns her attention back to the pictures in her hands, "when I got this assignment, I really didn't get what the Commander could possibly want me to do here. You see, I'm a warrior, cut out for the body-to-body combat, I'm not usually assigned to protective detail."

The angel leaves his position and sits beside the little girl, in the chair vacated by the reverend, and studies the little girl he has been watching over for the few last months, "we had an interesting battle when we took you from Swanson," that gets her attention, and she looks up at him, "and it was a good exercise for my sword arm, but since then, it has been quiet. I mean, not quiet quiet, but… no great battles, you see. So I really don't know why he keeps me here with you," she blinks at him, and he smiles, "I'm not complaining, you are cute as a button, and it is a plus that you can actually see us, but… I really don't know how long I'm going to stay. Maybe they'll assign someone else soon, I don't know."

She cringes a little, and holds her middle with a skinny arm, as hunger cramps hit her stomach. He frowns as he sees her doing that and rubs her back, "don't worry, you'll eat soon, ok?"

The door opens and the reverend enters the room again, holding some papers in his hands. The sheriff is standing two steps behind him, his gray eyes looking at the girl with distrust. The reverend ignores the disapproval pouring out of the officer and simply kneels on the floor, opening his arms wide in an unmistakable gesture.

Her face splits in a huge smile, jumping out of her chair like a rocket, and running the distance until she catapults herself into his open arms, throwing herself into his care.

"Let's go home, little one," Joseph says against her dirty hair, standing up and leaving the room with his precious burden carefully held in his arms.

Guilo simply smiles.

"Mission accomplished," he mutters.


	24. Settling in

**_Chapter 24: Settling in_**

The drive home was made in silence, permeated with worried glances that Joseph would throw at the little girl in the backseat through the rearview mirror every five minutes, noticing each expression that seemed to flutter by her expressive face, her curiosity at the seatbelt he insisted on her using, her huge eyes staring out of the window as he drives across town towards his home.

He also doesn't miss the pained expression on her face as she hugs her middle, and he can almost swear that he hears her stomach growling with hunger from where he's sitting. He notices that her eyes lose focus as she stares straight ahead, and she starts to move her upper body to and fro, hugging herself in a desperate attempt of comforting herself.

He speeds up the car, eager to arrive sooner in his house and he sighs out loud when he sees the structure looming just around the curve of the path. He parks the car and turns it off, looking back at the little girl and finding her staring at the house with eyes wide open.

"We're home. The other kids are probably asleep, but maybe it's better this way. So, our priorities here are a warm shower, a warm bowl of soup and then bed. What do you think?"

She leans her head forward, trying to see the upper floors, but the seatbelt apparently hinders her movements. She seems to have ignored his statement, but he notices how she throws nervous glances at him, trying to gauge his next movement. He smiles faintly and sees a corresponding little smile gracing her lips.

He finally gets out of the car, and goes around to open her door and free her from the seatbelt. He gathers her in his arms, and once again he feels how skinny she had become during the last weeks since their last encounter.

She at least seemed to be cared by someone then: her clothes were old, but clean; her long curly hair had been clean and carefully tucked into ponytails alas now they were just a little rat's nest disorderly stuck together by a rubber band. She also smells faintly of sweat and, curiouser and curiouser, wood smoke. She apparently had been close to wood fire not so long ago.

He carries her into the house, crossing in fast steps the kitchen and dining room, climbing the steps two at a time towards the ample bathroom he shares with Maggie upstairs. He deposits the little girl on the floor, and he turns to the bathtub, starting a hot bath to scrub away all the filth that seems cover the little girl as a second skin.

Heidy pops her head in, and she is surprised to find a filthy little girl studying the reverend's actions standing by the bathroom sink. The state of her clothes is deplorable, her brown hair is a mess that would take hours to untangle, but she keeps staring at the reverend with curious eyes.

He turns to look at the little girl, and he smiles brightly when he sees Heidy standing there. "Heidy, may I introduce you to…" he pauses, as he realizes that he doesn't know her name, and none of the papers he was given remotely indicate they have any inkling of the little girl's name. "We haven't picked up a name for her yet, but for now we can call her …" He looks around the bathroom and sees one of Maggie's hair conditioning products with the picture of a well know model, "Naomi. Do you like Naomi?"

The little girl simply looks at him without expression and scratches her head with her grubby hands, and he takes it as a signal that she's okay with it. He turns to Heidy, as he starts to undo the laces in order to take her shoes off, "can you get a pajamas set for me from Hope so I can put it on her after she is clean? And please, go to the kitchen and heat up some of the chicken soup we have in the fridge. She's starving."

"The sheriff simply gave you a new kid to look after, Reverend?" Heidy stretches her hand and grabs the little girl's filthy shoes he passes to her, and starts working on her socks, which the little girl lets him take off, then at her trousers, and the little girl fidgets to keep them on. "Not exactly. Taking her from his hands on my own free will would be a more accurate description."

The little girl moans out loud and rushes to a corner of the bathroom, away from his insistent hands, and looks at him cross at his attempts to get her naked. "You can't get into the water with your clothes on; you will get the water all filthy, just as they are."

The little girl looks at the inviting bathtub that he had prepared, then at the blonde woman and at the reverend, and points her arm and finger to the door, silently ordering both of them out so she can get her clothes off and jump into the water.

"Headstrong kid, uhm?" Heidy chuckles, and taps the reverend on his shoulder, "she's a big girl; she can take a shower on her own, right sweetie?" The little girl looks at the blonde woman and nods vigorously, bringing a smile to the faces of the two adults.

"I'll let you to your own devices, but you'd better scrub everything, even the dirt behind your ears, young lady!" he says with mock austerity, and he's not surprised at her confused face, her dirty hands going up to her ears and rubbing behind them, trying to find the dirt he's just mentioned.

Both adults leave her in the big bathroom, closing the door after themselves, and immediately the light atmosphere disappears as Heidy notices the reverend's face clouding with worry.

"Get the pj's and leave them on the sink and meet me downstairs in the kitchen, I'll start heating the soup and some bread for her and we will talk."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Once the two adults leave the bathroom, the little girl goes to the door and checks it, just to be sure that it is truly closed. Finally, she starts to slowly peel the several layers of clothes she had piled one on top of the other to protect herself of the cold.

She had running water in the old Maeve's house, but she had used it only to wash her face and body, covering it as soon as she could with the filthy clothes she had in an effort to keep herself warm in the cold abandoned house.

Once she is naked, she rushes towards the bathtub, filled all the way to the top with perfumed water. She touches the bubbles on top of it, and she smiles at its flowery scent. She gingerly steps into the water, and sighs out loud as her shivering body is lowered into the hot water, almost burning her skin, but she ignores the discomfort and lowers herself all the way to her neck, enjoying the first warm bath she has had in months.

She lingers a little bit, playing with the bubbles then grabs a perfumed bar of soap and starts washing herself, rubbing her open hand over the grit and dirt. The water that was clear soon becomes brownish, as the accumulated dirt for weeks transfers to it. She stands up and lets the water go down the drain, and opens the water faucet again, getting the small little shower head and turning it to her hair, trying to wash her hair with only one hand.

Heidy opens the door and deposits one of Hope's old pair of pjs on the sink, and notices the little girl's struggle to wash her own hair.

"Let me help you with that," she takes a step towards the little girl, who startles when she hears the stranger's voice in the bathroom and tries to cover her naked body with her skinny arms, but the tall blonde approaches her with a gentle smile, trying to approach her as someone who approaches a nervous colt, ready to bolt. She notices the skinny arms and the still dirty hands, and she is particularly curious about some purple bruises that seem to cover some areas of her legs.

"I just want to help you to wash your hair, may I?"

The little girl studies the adult with attentive eyes, finally nodding and lowering her arms granting access to her body. Heidy smiles as she approaches the little girl, puts a generous portion of Maggie's scented shampoo in her hand and starts rubbing the little girl's hair vigorously, trying to clean it. She notices that when the little girl leans her head forward, some faint crisscrossing whitish marks on her shoulders can be seen going down her back, but she bites her lips trying to refrain from commenting about them as she notices that the little girl immediately turns, instinctively blocking the older woman's view of her back.

She rubs the shampoo in, then the conditioner, and she starts to slowly unknot the long tresses with the help with a leave-in conditioner. Heidy runs her hands over the wet hair, and sees some parts of the little girl that she hadn't been able to reach with her short arms, so she promptly helps scrub the dirt away.

Some minutes later, clean hair and clean body, the nanny helps the little girl into her pajamas, and smiles as she sees the transformation of dirty urchin to adorable perfumed little girl.

"Are you hungry?" the little girl immediately becomes alert, and nods vigorously, taking the nanny's hand and guiding her to the door, eager for food, bringing gales of laughter from the tall blonde.


	25. Hunger and fear

**_Chapter 25: Hunger and fear_**

**_35'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40"The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'_**

**_ Matthew 25:35-40, New American Standard Bible._**

While Heidy helped the little girl upstairs, Joseph heated up some soup and cut a generous piece of homemade bread that one of the widows from the church had brought that morning to his kids. Sometimes, he felt like his kids had several grandpas and grandmas, as several old ladies in the church had the habit of acting as 'surrogate' relative to his children, either from one or for all of his children. He shakes his head as he remembers two patchwork duvets one of his church members sewed and given to Hope and Grace, right when they had just moved into the house, using several pieces of their old parent's clothes.

"This way, whenever you two fall asleep, you will remember them and know that they still love you, and they will still keep you warm, even if only through this," the old lady said, showing the delicate stitched fabric.

He warms up some milk and sets the table: bread, soup, some jelly and a tall glass of chocolate milk. He hears the splat of tiny footsteps followed by heavier ones on the wooden stairs and on the living room. He turns around and he is deeply surprised with the huge difference he can see in her: instead of the street urchin he collected in the precinct, he has before himself a gorgeous little girl with glorious curly hair, slowly dripping behind her back hanging past her shoulders, an angelical face with a cute button mouth and perky nose, but the most glorious feature were the expressive chocolate brown eyes which were currently looking at the food on the table with huge eyes.

"You hungry, uhm?" asks Heidy, smiling up to the reverend holding her little hand, which was gripping the older woman's in a tight squeeze.

The little girl tilts her head up to look at the blonde woman and nods, but makes no move to come closer the table. Joseph sits on one of the chairs and pulls the other before the food back, and starts pointing the food.

"I've heated the soup and it's cooling. Why don't you try the bread first?" He takes the slice of bread, puts a generous amount of jelly on it and offers it to the little girl. The little girl licks her lips, but doesn't approach the table. Heidy frowns over the little girl's shoulder, looking at the reverend whose face is the very definition of confusion. He knows the little girl is starving, but for some reason she is not taking a seat at the table.

"Come on, you can eat," as soon as he finishes speaking, the little girl latches on his arm and grabs the piece of bread, stuffing half of it in her mouth in just a few seconds, "hey, slow down, there's more from where that one came from." She glances at him and keeps chewing furiously, eager to stuff the rest of the bread into her mouth, but she slows down a little. She licks the jelly and her fingers, which are now smeared with it, and glances briefly at the soup but makes no move to approach the table.

Heidy then decides to take matters into her own hands and hooks her hands under the little girl's armpits, lifting her a few inches from the floor and guiding her to the chair, gently sitting her on it. During the maneuver, the little girl keeps taking chunks of the bread and stuffing them into her mouth, chewing and chewing it. Joseph takes the hot chocolate milk with honey and deposits it into one of her jelly smeared hands, guiding the cup to her lips. She takes a sip, her eyes becoming huge orbs at the amazing taste of it, and takes another huge sip of it.

Her reaction is not lost to the two adults, who feel their hearts constrict at the scene before them, as the little girl acts as if she hadn't eaten anything similar to what they are offering in a very, very long time. Joseph bites his lower lip and struggles to keep his tears at bay, sniffing lightly before getting the empty cup of milk of the little girl and putting a spoon in her hand, guiding it to the soup. She gets the hang of it very fast, and soon is stuffing spoonfuls into her mouth, while the other hand grips the piece of bread, almost crushing it into her little fist.

"If you want more, just gives a shout okay?"

The little girl doesn't pause, but nods lightly before stuffing another chunk of bread in her mouth and pushing it inside with her little fingers. Joseph indicates with his head that he wants to talk with Heidy in the living room, and both adults let the little girl continue eating.

Both adults sit, Joseph in his leather chair by the fireplace and the nanny on the sofa, where both can still see the little girl eating at a voracious speed.

"Who is she?"

"I have no idea," says Joseph, leaning back on the chair and staring at the ceiling, studying the white painting peeling in one corner. _We need to paint the house again._

"Then why did the sheriff put her into your care?"

"Because I've asked him to. You see, she's the little girl who stole my wallet in Detroit."

The nanny looks at the reverend as if he's sprouted a second head, or as if he has just informed that he was actually from Mars.

"How? That was weeks ago. Are you sure?"

Joseph nods, and turns his head and sees the little girl licking the inside of the bowl and the back of the spoon, letting not even one drop of the soup remain behind.

"The same way I've recognized her when I saw her, she immediately recognized me as well."

"How did she get here?"

"That is a very good question." He glances at his watch, and is surprised at the time, "listen, go home. I'll put her to bed. You coming tomorrow too?"

"Are you going to keep her?"

Joseph freezes at that question, as of right now all his actions had been purely instinctive, but that's something to think about.

"I don't know. I have to talk to Maggie first."

"When is she coming home?"

"She's arriving tomorrow for two weeks leave, both Christmas and New Year's Eve. A friend of mine is coming with his brand new family, they have a small toddler, just one year younger than Matt."

"What about John and Faith, are they coming home for Christmas too?"

"Faith is coming on Saturday. John is not sure he can make it, he's still waiting for the authorization for him to have Christmas leave. Anyway, it will be a full house for a couple of days."

They hear the sound of something falling to the floor, and look up to find the little girl frozen with a deer in the headlights expression, the jelly jar on the floor in pieces and her face completely smeared with jelly, looking guiltily at them with a dirty spoon in a death grip in her hand.

Joseph sighs out loud, and dismisses Heidy, "go home, tomorrow will be a long day, I'll clean that up." He starts walking towards the little girl, but freezes at the absolute terror he can see in her eyes as he approaches her. "I'm just going to clean that, no reason to be afraid."

He slowly walks to the corner of the kitchen collects a broom and slowly approaches the little girl, who closes her eyes as he stands before her, shaking in fear, as if waiting him to punish her for unspeakable crimes. He slowly collects the glass shards and throws them in the garbage, cleaning the leftovers of the jelly on the floor with a cloth. His eyes on her face, he studies her with the same intensity when she starts studying him, as she opens her eyes and stares at him, with eyes filled with fear and defeat.


	26. Girls have cooties!

**_Chapter 26: Girls have cooties!  
_**

Man and child stare at each other, and there's a heavy tension in the air, as he realizes that she is ready to bolt at the slightest agressive gesture he might make. She doesn't move, just stays there, waiting.

He looks at the table, sees that she had finished the soup and all of the bread, "Would you like another glass of milk?" He sees the confusion flooding her eyes, as she looks at the floor and at him again, and he practically can hear her asking in her mind why isn't he punishing her. He ignores her for a moment; he goes to the stove, collects the milk and approaches the table, pouring more warm milk in her glass and preparing it to his taste. Once the hot chocolate is ready, he offers the glass to the little girl, who keeps staring at him as if he's offering her a snake.

"You don't want it?" he takes a sip of the milk, "Delicious. Yummy. You sure don't want it?" The little girl licks her lips; he smiles and offers the cup again, which is grabbed by her little hands in a death grip, and Joseph can't help but notice the faint shaking in her hands.

For some reason, she's still terrified of him.

He turns to Heidy, who has been watching the interaction between them with worried eyes, "Go home, I have everything under control."

The door opens and closes, leaving the adult and child alone staring at each other. He waits until she is finished with the milk to start collecting the dirty dishes and putting them in the sink; he will clean up after she's put to bed. He's however surprised with her following actions. As soon as she sees him putting the dishes away, she walks around the table and pushes one of the chairs towards the sink, climbs on it and finds one of the dish cleaning products and starts washing everything: plates, cups, cutlery. He takes a step back just to watch, and he feels his puzzlement growing at each second as she put the plates under running water, taking away the suds.

Once all is clean, she climbs down the chair and pushes it towards the corner where some dish cloths are hanging. She parks the chair under it, climbs and takes one of the cloths; climbs down and pushes the chair into place. Then she proceeds to dry everything she has just washed, putting the plates, glasses and cutlery in an organized manner on top of the table, ready to be put away in their respective places.

Once she is done, she carefully hangs the wet dish cloth on the door of the oven, letting it to dry. She turns to look at him, just waiting for his verdict, and he feels thousand thoughts bubbling in his head, his puzzlement with the mystery the little girl represents growing at each second. He approaches and kneels before her, holding one of her hands in his.

"You haven't been a street kid for long, have you? You've had a house; you've had a family somewhere, didn't you? Because..." he points to his kitchen, the clean dishes and cups, "A street kid wouldn't know how to do that, much less do it without being asked to. Someone must have taught you how to do that. Gosh, my kids wouldn't do it even if I gave them death threats." Her response was a jaw breaking yawn, which brings a small smile to the reverend's face. "I get it, bedtime." He gathers the little girl in his arms and smiles against her now almost dry curls, which are softly perfumed with the same aroma that he finds whenever he smells Maggie's hair. She settles into his arms, her little skinny arms around his neck, and he walks in lazy steps towards Faith's room, which is currently empty, just waiting for her to arrive for Christmas.

He moves the blankets and the duvet aside, and deposits the little girl in the big bed, smiling when she sits in it and crosses her arms around herself, looking at the bedroom walls curious at the several Bon Jovi and Air Supply posters, along with several shelves with various romance books and teddy bears.

He notices her staring at the teddy bears, and walks towards the shelf, "Want one?" He points to one, other, and he hits jackpot when he points to a horse shaped teddy, white and brown patches just like a pinto horse. The little girl stretches her arms towards him, asking him to give the toy to her.

He complies, and smiles lightly as she stares into the horse's plush face, as if she's trying to communicate with it. He walks towards her and pushes her lightly into the bed, which she complies hugging tightly the plush toy. He covers her with the blankets and the duvet, and gently puts one curl behind her ear, "You will be safe here, now sleep." He stands up to leave, but the little girl grabs his arm, stopping him.

"Okay, I'll wait until you fall asleep." He kneels beside bed, and simply watches the girl watching him, until finally her eyelids become heavy, and her breathing reaches a slow steady rhythm, her fingers become slack around the pinto horse.

"Who's she?" a light voice comes from the door, and Joseph is surprised to find Mark standing by the door, staring at the slumbering girl with curious eyes. He stands up, reassuring himself that the blankets are all in order around her, and signals the seven-year-old boy to follow him to the corridor. He closes the door carefully behind himself, then leads the little boy to his own bedroom down the corridor.

"What are you doing awake so late?" He glances at the clock, and is slightly surprised to see that it's two thirty am. Where did the time go?

"I've heard you coming upstairs and it woke me up. Who's she?"

"That's..." he pauses as he helps the little boy into his own bed, and covers him, "someone who will stay with us for a while. I'm doing a favor for the sheriff looking after her, so be nice to her."

"Are you going to adopt her too?"

Joseph freezes at that question, his eyes glazing as he questions the wisdom of his decision, of taking in a child that had no family, no past and apparently, no name as well.

"I haven't decided it yet."

"Why don't you ever adopt boys? Why do you always have to choose girls? They have cooties and they are irritating, loud and boring."

Joseph can't help laughing at his son's indignation, "remind me to repeat these exact the same words to you when you start being interested in girls in a few years."

"No, I don't wanna. I'm not going to be interested in girls; I'm going to be a GI Joe. GI Joes don't have girlfriends."

"That's what they want you to think." With those parting words, he leaves the boys' room and goes to his own.

He slowly takes his clothes off, staring fixedly at his bed, which he has shared for so many years with Maggie. He finds an old flannel pjs and puts it on, lies on the bed on top of the duvet, staring at the ceiling as he tries to figure out how to make this phone call, and which words he should chose to explain the situation to his wife.

Procrastination has never been his forte, so with a deep sigh, he turns on the bed and reaches out to the telephone, not without a brief glance at the clock on the bedside table. It was 2:48 am; it would be almost five am in DC.

The phone rings two, three, four times, before a very sleepy voice answers the insistent ringing of the phone, "H'llo, who's this?"

"Maggie, it's me, Joseph."

"Joseph?" Maggie immediately sounds more alert, as she tries to sit on her hotel bed, checking the travel clock and she's surprised at the time on it. "What's wrong? Why you're calling me at this hour?"

"Sorry for waking you up but... we need to talk."


	27. Hope for the best, expect the worst

**_Chapter 27: Hope for the best, expect the worst_**

**_Somewhere over Nevada  
Present day_**

_"In the darkest hour the soul is replenished and given strength to continue and endure." - Anonymous_

"What is Dad's role in all of this?" Hope's voice breaks the silence that seemed to permeate the flight deck after the revelations done by Jack a few minutes before.

Jack turns the Tel'tak and prepares to land in Nevada, and as soon as they are back into the Earth's atmosphere, flying through a very heavy cloud, he answers, "He acts as grief counselor for our off world teams. After a while, we've realized that we were losing a huge number of people, and we were in shortage of psychologists with a high enough clearance to help the survivors. Maggie pointed out that Joseph had the experience and the necessary clearance; he just needed to be read into the program. Since then, he has helped our soldiers dealing with psychological or physical trauma, PTSD and these things. As he was a USAF colonel and he had been through enough crashes to understand how it feels to be shot down from the sky, he soon became one of the favorites shrinks for the people in the project."

That tidbit of information brings a small smile to the siblings' faces, as it was so typical of their father to act on the sidelines of war, bringing hope and comfort when there's none to be found.

_"In the darkest hour the soul is replenished and given strength to continue and endure."_ Joy whispers, and McGee smiles faintly as he hears that. She glances at him and continues, "Dad, in all moments of life, regardless of how desperate or how weak we might feel before life's challenges, always had a word or a song ready to give some comfort and solace.

"It's nice to know that he's found his niche in the project doing what he does best." He says, and looks ahead, noticing that the ship is flying over some sand colored buildings. He sits straighter, which catches Joy's attention who also looks at the buildings of Nellis base. They can see the intense movement of marine troops setting up several large tents where the Air Force would set up a field hospital, and the intense movement of helicopters dropping off crates of equipment, which was soon moved by groups of soldiers.

There were three buildings in a U formation, two hangars for airplanes and a landing strip. The buildings were almost boring looking, two story square boxes with several windows and a common area in the middle, their sand color designed to practically disappear if pictures were shot by an aerial survey. The zinc tiles covering the hangars were the only spot of color in the property, their gray color complimenting the white washed walls with some kind of design pattern on them.

"I was expecting something different." Tony looks at the two story buildings with dismay, his face betraying his disappointment.

"What were you expecting, Tony? A cows-eye or a big shield loudly announcing that they are a landing pad for aliens?" Ziva cannot help taking the opportunity to nag her fellow agent, who looks at her with a sarcastic smile gracing his lips.

"It's bulls-eye, Ziva. And no, I wasn't expecting something like that. Maybe… I don't know... a high tech building. That one looks like it's going to fall apart with the first wind."

Gibbs glances briefly at Jack, who is smirking at the banter of his agents, and adds, "do not be deceived by the exterior, as what's really important is probably not on ground level, but several floors underneath it."

"Mom works on Sierra Lima thirty seven, so..." Faith lets the question hanging, and Jack doesn't take long to answer.

"She has offices on sub-level twenty, but her test lab is on sub-level thirty seven, which is better shielded and security is tighter."

"So there is a chance of her getting out of this unscathed?" Gibbs asks, "She had left the lab and secured the perimeter, and she was in another lab when the explosion finally happened."

"I don't want to give you false hopes, I also do not wish to be a prophet of Apocalypse, predicting doom and death everywhere but... the work they do here, most of the time these scientist are grasping at straws. Majority of their work is reverse engineering things that we have no inkling of their use or the magnitude of their power, so … unfortunately, accidents happen. Frequently. I was on the receiving end of several painful accidents. There was once a virus which left me and most of the base behaving like neanderthals, another artifact that pinched me against the wall with a metal poker and demanded to be taken back to their planet, and I could go on and on telling you of missions where we just stumbled our way in a situation that we had to fly out on the seat of our pants trying to figure out how to fix it."

"You must have a very interesting set of field reports."

Jack grins, but doesn't say anything.

"So there's no hope for a happy ending here?"

"That's not what I've meant."

"What have you meant then?"

"I've meant... hope for the best. Expect the worst." He hovers over one of the helipads, and gently lowers the ship towards the ground, beside several helicopters which were being unloaded with material.


	28. Jesus H Roosevelt Christ

**_Chapter 28: Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ _**

As soon as the ship lands, two airmen detach themselves from the ants nest on the ground and start walking towards the Tel'Tak. Jack opens the ship doors and waits for the slow hissing sound of engines shutting down to finish, before acknowledging the two airmen who entered the ship and were standing at attention.

He salutes them briefly and points to the equipment brought by the NCIS team, asking them to carry it to their central command as their guests will follow him. He leaves the ship in hurried steps, saluting everyone by name, walking towards an improvised tent just out of the first sand colored building.

The NCIS and FBI agents follow the general, taking in the movement of troops around the field hospital, and Gibbs can't help noticing how heavily armed the marines seemed to be, as if expecting problems of some sort at any moment.

"Are you expecting a war, General O'Neill?"

Jack glances back, and shakes his head, "until we have a clear idea of what has transpired downstairs, we're not considering it an accident but sabotage. We can't take any chances of whatever happened down there to spill out to the general public."

"What are the biological safeguards in place to avoid contamination of foreign - or in this case, alien - elements?" Ducky asks looking at the doctors standing by the field hospital, all of them donning full HazMat suits over their uniforms.

"Every three floors are hermetically sealed. They have independent EPA air filters which provide clean air to the each sealed pocket. In case of invasion, radiation or biological contamination, the security protocols will be immediately activated and everyone will be sealed in until a security team comes and with the proper authorization code releases the people inside once the threat is gone or proven false."

He points to the main door, and the constant coming in an out of it, "Let's get inside, I'd rather show you."

The team and the Buchanan sisters enter the sand colored building right after the General, following the corridor filled with incoming soldiers in a rush to somewhere. The General seems to know exactly where he is going, so they don't interrupt his fast broad steps down the long brightly illuminated corridor and observe the movement of the troops, the boring sand color on the walls and the several doors heavily secured with high tech locks, accessible only by input of a security card and a ten digit code. They arrive at what they guess must be the middle of the building, and Jack stops before the door, receiving a salute from the two airmen guarding the door.

Jack enters the room, but when Gibbs and the team try to pass one of the airman blocks his way.

"Only authorized personnel here, sir."

"Really?" Gibbs glares at the airman, who flinches lightly but keeps blocking the way.

There's a tense moment, and Tony, Ziva, McGee and Joy take a step back, just trying not to be caught in the onslaught of Gibbs' fury. Hope and Faith frown, not understanding why they've done that, and both Buchanan also notice that Ducky and Jimmy cringe as if expecting for an explosion.

"Listen, airman..." Gibbs glances down to young man's name tag, and growls "Collins, don't call me sir. I work for a living. And regarding our authorization to be here, why don't you ask him?" He points someone standing right behind the airman, breathing loudly against his ear.

The airman tenses and slowly turns around, just to find General O'Neill's face just a few inches from his.

"Any problem here, airman?"

"Sir, nothing sir, just doing my job, sir."

"Good kid. They're with me." He waves Gibbs in, and slaps the airman lightly on his back, before guiding Gibbs with a hand on the agent's shoulder towards the strategy table settled up in the middle of the room, leaving the other agents to follow them in a rush.

"Humph, I was expecting a bloodbath," mutters Tony, and Ziva lightly smirks.

"Gibbs is much more controlled now, he'd probably just maim him." Ziva says chuckling lightly, looking at the array of computers displayed at a corner surrounded by a mess of wires, and a table with several architectural maps where some people in BDU's were pouring over its contents.

Joy shakes her head at the exchange, and one glance at McGee and Hope and she knew that she had lost her boyfriend and sister, as both were gazing adoringly at the several flatscreens on the wall and the hive of activity of technicians around the desktops.

"Jesus H. Roosevelt C-"

"If you take the name of the Lord in vain again, I swear to God, I'll turn you over my knee and spank you," growls Faith between her teeth, bringing a scared expression to Hope's face.

"Okay, shutting up now."


	29. Nellis USAF base aka Area 51

**_Chapter 29: Nellis USAF base aka Area 51_**

Gibbs and Jack walk to the table and stand beside the officers around it, Jack making a short introductions saying names too fast for Gibbs to pick any of them, just enough to guess that they were either Air Force or Marines.

"Report," orders O'Neill, as the team gathers close to the table to hear the update on the situation, minus Hope and McGee who very quietly walk towards the computer stations set up on the whole right wall of the room.

One man, whose chevrons on his shoulder identify him as Major, points to the architectural map from the base and starts giving his report.

It was indeed an impressive structure: the three main buildings on ground level just had some basic quarters, a basic infirmary, some offices and two Engineering labs for less dangerous research, nothing very top secret.

Same could not be said from the underground. There were two elevator shafts, one going down from Block A and another going from Block B. While the one in Block A was mostly for personnel use, the one in Block B was twice the size as it was mostly for cargo, being able to carry parts of airplanes or whole ships down to lower levels.

After going the distance equivalent of ten floors down with no stops, people had to change elevators to go to the ones which granted access to the lower levels, where the real activities began.

Despite the fact that there were three buildings above ground, the facility was actually one single thing, being interconnected with several corridors and floors, with labs one beside the other, their sizes varying from a small as a paint closet to huge warehouses, big enough to house several airplanes - or in this case, spaceships - which could be seen in the plants over the table.

There were also two ventilation shafts, one small running through the whole right side of the facility, and the other one on the left side of the facility. This one, however, was big enough to allow the exit of the spaceships located in the engineering labs several floors down, as it has acted as a nuclear silo before. Now, it was temporarily blocked by blast doors which sealed the tubes each three floors.

"We've initially been able to evacuate the labs from the first seven levels, overriding manually the security protocols level by level and freeing the people locked inside their own labs. Later on, we kept slowly evacuating levels sixteen, eighteen and nineteen." He points with a pen to the floors he has just mentioned, "So far, there's been no sign of structure damage on these levels, however we've already sent down a team in HazMat gear as there has been a light reading of radiation on the access corridors. We don't want to take any chances on this."

"Any info on the lower levels?" Gibbs asks and notices a several gray areas, indicating big labs, strategically spread out through the lower levels of the facility, taking at least the equivalent of two floors throughout the structure. There were three of them, one beside the other, right beside the marking SL 37. _One of them must be Maggie's lab_, he thinks.

Another man, this one with a Marine uniform, shakes his head, "None yet, but we're assuming that, according to the intel given to us by General O'Neill, the source of the blast came from Lab two in SL 37, which was one of the two labs in use in that level. Unfortunatelly, the explosion messed up with the radio and the surveillance net of the place. The cameras went offline with the first electromagnetic wave, and our tech team has been working since they've arrived here trying to reestablish the video link, but we've had to bring equipment from another base, as everything here was fried."

"But if the equipment went offline just due to the electromagnetic wave and the physical cables are still intact, it is possible to reestablish the connection." McGee butts in the conversation, flinching when the General, Gibbs, and all bigwigs around the strategy table turn to stare at him.

"Do you think you could do it?" asks Gibbs, who receives a faint nod from McGee after a moment of uncertainty passes through his eyes.

"I could try."

Gibbs glances at Jack, who studies the NCIS agent for a second before nodding and looking to one of the airmen, "take him to your geek guys, let him help them."

McGee is then silently escorted by an airman to one of the computer stations, where he immediately starts getting acquainted with the system. Joy watches him go with concern in her eyes, but her attention soon returns to the strategy table.

Nobody notices Hope slowly slicking herself away out of the room, as all eyes were focused on the engineering plants or on the computer screens beeping.


	30. ObiwanKenobi holographic style

_**Chapter 30: Obi-wan-Kenobi holographic style**_

Ziva leans over Gibbs' shoulder, glancing at the paper maps, and shakes lightly her head. "Is that the best map you have from the structure below?"

"The systems went offline, so we're trying to make do with paper maps. The official charts are secured in electronic datacenter several levels down, which is—"

"Offline due to the electromagnetic blast, therefore useless," interrupts Faith, staring at the papers with a frown. "Backup generators?"

"Up and running, but it's taking time, longer than we had expected, to slowly readjust the systems to be fully functional again. We have teams right now sweeping sublevels sixteen, seventeen and nineteen, working in two fronts: one evacuating personnel and another trying to reconnect systems."

"Any word on the senators?" Tony asks, seconds before Jack asks about his own concerns.

"Any word on Daniel and Colonel Mitchell, and the people down in SL 37? Which is where we are assuming is the origin of the blast."

One of the majors shakes his head ligthly, his nametag loudly announcing he's Major O'Donnell, "We haven't found sign of the senators yet, however some witnesses pointed out that they are probably either on Sierra Lima twenty or twenty one."

"Visiting one of the anthropology labs," mutters Jack, whose attention is drawn to a commotion by the door, as Hope tries to drag a huge case that she has brought in the Tel'Tak with her while the airmen try to block her entry again.

"There so many muscular men here, can anybody give me a hand?" Joy smiles lightly, and glances at Faith who snickers at their sister.

Jack shakes his head and waves to the airmen to help her out, and she sighs out loud as they take over the heavy case. She directs them to carry closer to the table, and thanks them with a bright smile.

"Move that, I need the space," Hope says, pointing at the maps.

"Are you nuts, kid?"

Hope nods as she opens the case, "Yep, with caramel and ice cream and cherries on top." She starts taking electronic cables from the case, and then a huge black mirror like structure.

"Can someone give me a hand in here? Don't touch on the surface, okay." Tony and Jimmy, who up until then had stayed a few steps back, help her move the glistening surface to the table, while Joy and Faith push the papers to give space for the strange device.

"Is that-?" Joy asks astonished.

"Yep." Hope's answer is monosyllabic, as she starts connecting wires on the strange thing.

"I've thought it was still on testing phase."

"Nope, it's up and running."

"What the hell is that?" Gibbs looks from one sister to the other, while Ziva and Tony look at the strange thing trying to figure out what it is.

"It looks like a ceramic oven." Ziva mutters, and Tony chuckles.

"Yeah, that's where they cook ideas, Ziva."

"Jimmy, be a dear and find a place to plug this in, ok?" Hope gives an electric cable to Jimmy, who rushes to find an available place to power up the strange equipment.

Hope stands up once all cables are connected minus one, a high speed optic fiber cable which she holds in her hand as she glances at the General, "You're not the only one with brilliant toys, uncle Jack." She walks to one of the computer stations, and clears her throat until the tech looks up at her.

"Thanks for keeping the seat warm for me."

"What?" the poor tech looks confused at the curvaceous blonde standing by his chair with a wicked smile on her red lips.

Gibbs rolls his eyes at the tech, marches to his side and grabs him by his collar and forcefully removes him from the chair, receiving a bright smile from Hope.

"Thanks, Gibbs, you're a doll." She immediately crouches under the table and connects the optic cable in the computer station, and the machine on the table hisses as it loads up. She then takes the seat of the tech and enters his system, starting to type a series of commands.

"No serious, what is this? We don't have time to—"

"Patience Jack, you will like this," says Joy, who glances at Hope, "Hope?"

"Patience is a virtue," Hope starts typing furiously and several different windows start popping on her screen.

"A virtue we're not known for," mutters Joy, who smiles as the lights start to turn on the corners of the equipment, making some type of projection on the space above the black ceramic.

"A little bit of creative hacking… here they are, uploading the base maps … now," Hope types something and a very detailed hologram appears, showing the several floors of the facility under their feet. It was as detailed as in the architectural maps, with the difference that they could see it in 3D perspective, observing the electronic, wiring and air shafts at the same time in the structure.

"What the hell… What is this and why we don't have one?" Jack moans, pointing to the 3D volumetric holographic projector, as Hope snickers as she adjusts with series of commands the size of the projection, showing the whole thing from the ground floor down to the last sublevel.

"Well, that's not for public consumption. Besides, that's Buchanan technology, not even the Bureau has it. They think that the prototype is riddled with bugs. And I have no intention of telling them that I have one fully functional."

"Why?" asks Ziva, looking at Hope typing on the computer, who simply shrugs.

"Because I can, I guess."

Faith shakes her head at her younger sister, and studies the structure beside the other marine and air force members who, after a glance at their papers and the holograph, abandon the paper and turn all their attention to the 3D image.

"Obi-wan-kenobi, you are our only chance," mutters Tony, just to receive a glare from Ziva and a headslap from Gibbs.

"Ouch."

"Okay, Hope, give me the air ducts and filters," Hope immediately highlights them in orange in the hologram, showing two exhaust tunnels, each in one extremity of the structure, going all the way down, along with several other ducts conducting the air around the facility. Each three floors there were air filters, which purified the air pumped into the exhaust tunnels, and circulated it into the labs and other offices in the floors it was designated.

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm worried about how much air they actually have down there. As the explosion triggered the sealing of the lower levels, they would be reduced to breathe only the air currently available in the area they were sealed in."

Jack studies the holograph, glances at the maps and gives up on them, "Can you zoom in on the labs on sublevel 21?"

After some adjustments, they could see a more detailed 3D rendering of the structure of SL 21, and Jack points to one of the big labs in the middle of the structure. "This is Daniel's favorite place, and that's where I bet he is. He has several of his favorite rocks and Egyptians thingies tucked in there, and if he was showing the senators around, that's where he would spend a longer period."

"How many senators are we talking about?" Gibbs studies the size of the lab. It's not small, but it is not as big as the engineering labs located in two floors of SL24 and SL25 and the other one, also taking two sublevels, on SL29 and SL28.

"Three senators and their aides, eight people in total, plus Dr. Jackson, Colonel Mitchel and whoever was the antropologist on duty of the lab at the moment. In a room that size, if all of them are breathing the same filtered air over and over, they might have…" the major looks to another marine, this one an engineer, who shrugs.

"Three hours, maybe less."

"Great," Jack looks at the holograph. He glances again at the Major, "do you have a team on stand by?"

"Yes sir."

"Great, I'm going with them." He leans back, and looks to the NCIS agents, "wanna come down with me?" he asks Gibbs, who smirks lightly, "sure. Where do we gear up?"

"Follow me, ah… Hope?"

"Yes, uncle Jack?"

"I want one of those … thingies." He points to the holographic projector, "send me the bill of the cost and I'll ask nicely the president to buy me one."

"Hahaha Jack, you would never be able to afford me." She snickers, as she keeps typing on the computer, inputting more maps in the system.


	31. That's Daniel

_**Chapter 31: That's Daniel  
**_

"Boss," McGee calls out, and Gibbs approaches him and looks over his shoulder, "I think we did it," the screens on the left flicker and finally they see the security cameras from the lower levels.

"How far down can you see?" Jack approaches them, and looks at the cameras, showing people locked into labs sitting on the floor, others dejectly trying to turn on their computers, which of course, were fried. There were some who seemed more frantic than others, but the civilians seemed to be taking it on stride, while the some military men could be seen trying to pry open the sealed doors in the lower levels.

The tech sitting beside McGee types something, "This is sublevel seventeen, the deepest our search and rescue teams have reached so far," the cameras show two different teams opening doors and guiding people out of their labs. They swept a Geiger counter over each person before allowing them to rush to follow the other people out.

"Bring me the cameras from the next sublevels," Jack orders, and slowly McGee and the other tech show other labs, other people, and they are pleasantly surprised to see that, miraculously, there aren't that many people on the floors.

"There, stop there," orders Jack, as he sees Daniel and Mitchell talking excitedly with a man in a suit, who is red in the face and waving his arms nervously, pointing at the door.

"That's my space monkey," his comment brings a strange look from Gibbs, who stares at the general as if he lost his mind.

"Space monkey?"

"Ahhmmm… long story. Which floor is that?"

"Sublevel twenty one," the tech types something, "Anthropology lab number two."

The general and the team leader watch Daniel pointing to the camera, then at the door, trying to make his point.

"What is he saying?"

"There's no audio on this," McGee tries something else, and shakes his head, "no chance, maybe if Abby was here she could read his lips…"

"Ah… no need. I know what he is saying."

"You do?"

"Come on, that's Daniel, for crying out loud."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Why haven't we been rescued yet? Are you sure they even know we're here?"

Daniel rolls his eyes and looks at Cam, who was sitting on a tall lab chair and going round and round on it, who just shakes his head and glances at Senator Trevor, who has been, so far, the most vocal about his complaints on being stuck in the lab. The auxiliary red lights gave a strange ambiance to the room, which looked like a messy mausoleum on its best days, and now simply looked like a mess.

"They know we're here. Do you remember that we signed you in, before coming down? I'm sure they are doing their utmost to ensure that we're fine."

"But what is taking them so long?" Senator Allison, another one who has been designed to be part of the budget committee, asks looking at the gray walls and at the dead computers, surrounded by shelves and shelves of artifacts collected by the off world teams during their expeditions out in the galaxy.

Several artifacts had fallen from their places in the higher shelves, causing a small commotion between Daniel and the two other attending anthropologists, but thankfully very few pieces broke in the fall. There were some minor cuts but the sturdy shelves didn't move from their places, which is a small miracle in itself.

"There was an explosion several levels down, we've all felt it. But besides that, something must have triggered the total lockdown of the base, so there might be a risk of biological infection. So that's why it's better if we wait here, than trying to leave the room. As long as we stay calm we will be fine."

"But I don't want to die in here," moans one of the aides, one young lady who looked barely old enough to have such privileged position, "I have a baby girl, I don't want her to be without a mother."

"I know. Nobody is going to die, okay." Cam tries to calm down the lady who is almost crying, then signals with his head that he wants to talk to Daniel. _Privately_.

They reach a corner of lab, just beside a very delicate totem painted in bright pastel colors taken from P3X3OD and turn their backs to the senators. Cam takes one arrow head from the shelves and starts playing with it in his hand, "Tell me again, why are we not blasting that door and getting the hell out of here?"

"The alarm that rang shortly after the explosion was the one which signals biological contamination. That's what made the auxiliary power kick in and sealed the doors stopping us from trying to leave here. As long as we stay in here, in this sealed room, we will not be contaminated with whatever virus or whatever is floating out there."

"How can we be sure it's not an invasion? So we will seat here, twiddling our thumbs until someone comes to rescue us."

"If it was an invasion, the explosion would have come from the upper levels. It came from deep down the facility, so it must have been either one of the engineering labs or the nuclear research facility they have down in SL 31."

"What exactly do they have at SL31?"

"As far as I know, they were trying to build a coldfusion collider. And I've peeked at the schedule before coming downstairs, they were doing some tests down at SL37 too."

"So we are supposed to stay here and wait to be rescued."

"Basically yes."

Both turn to glance at the senators, who are talking with one of the aides and one of the anthropology assistants, "This is not going to go well with the budget committee, will it?"

"Probably not, but it's too early to speculate. But that's not what we should be worried about."

Cam glances at Daniel, who is looking at the air vent on the ceiling which was softly blowing air inside the room, "I'm worried that, if it's a biological contaminant, if the air supply has been contaminated as well and … if it's not, how long it will last."

Cam's eyes go up to the same place where Daniel is looking at, and sighs, "Let's just hope that air is clear and that it keeps coming until they find us."


	32. Team Gibbs to rescue with… Jack

a/n: I'm trying to keep the chapters of this babe coming. But I have to give my thanks to the amazing Watchdog for giving me tech support with the alphabet soup I was drowning in.

I really hope this is not too far away from the correct procedures in the event of a nuclear emergency.

Further info on decontamination procedures can be found at the amazing book -**_ Handbook of radioactive contamination and decontamination, _**by Jan Severa, Jaromír Bár, easily accessible by Google books.

* * *

_**Chapter 32: **_**_Team Gibbs to rescue with… Jack_**

"Let's get geared up," Jack motions to the door, waving his hand so Gibbs and his agents could follow him, but Gibbs notices that Joy and McGee don't move.

"Hey," Joy looks up from the holograph at her boss, "I would like to stay here trying to figure out the best way to go to the lower levels. I'll work with McGee trying to figure out where mom might be."

Gibbs walks up to her and looks down at her, but she doesn't budge her position, "Okay, McGee can stay as long as he acts as our eyes and ears down there," McGee, from the computer with the surveillance cameras working on the lower floors, silently nods without taking his eyes from his screens.

Jack nods in agreement, "we'll be back soon, we just need to find Daniel and those nice senators, then we will be on standby to help your mom, okay?"

Jack points one of the airmen, and looks at Ducky and Jimmy, "Airman, please take Dr. Mallard and Dr. Palmer to the Decon, gear them up and let them start working on the people already coming up."

"Thanks General O'Neill, we'll be off to the field hospital then…" Dr. Mallard nods and starts following the airman, just to freeze when the General calls him up.

"Hey Doc."

"Yes, General."

Jack smiles one of his trademark smiles, his brown eyes shining with mischievousness. "The name is Jack."

Ducky smiles at the irreverence of the General, nods and follows the airman, eager to offer assistance to the other doctors in attendance, with Jimmy hot on his heels.

Jack sighs out loud and looks at Gibbs, and taps him heavily on his shoulder, "Armory is this way."

Once in the armory, Tony and Ziva and Gibbs were given a crash course in proper Hazmat procedures, and introduced to the best friend of Stargate teams.

"This is a P-90. I bet it is not your standard –" Jack interrupts himself when he sees how comfortably Gibbs and Ziva handle the heavy artillery weapon, while Tony simply checks the iron sighting and how it fits comfortably in his hand, "forget what I've said. They are lightweight, and semi-automatic, so they are very handy when dealing with unfriendlies, 'specially when you have several pounds of equipment on your backpack."

"But we're not going down with several pounds of equipment on our back, are we?" Tony looks surprised at Jack, who shakes his head and points to the heavy protective gear that some airmen are bringing into the room.

"No, just its equivalent. I hope you folks have put clean underwear today, because we're going to strip down to our civvies and hop into those beautiful orange suits," he smiles wickedly at Ziva, who is staring at the orange suits with distaste, "I assure you, they're as bad as they look, hotter than hell but I promise I won't look… much."

Ziva glares at Jack for a moment, but her expression soon becomes wicked, "You may look as much as you want, General, but you're never going to touch."

Jack theatrically puts his hands over his chest, as if he's in deep pain, "Oh, my poor broken heart. Never ever to touch. Oh."

"Ouch," Ziva mutters, after Gibbs headslaps her.

"Stop flirting with the general. Let's gear up." Gibbs glares at the general, who just keeps snickering as he starts unbuttoning his jacket.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Once they were geared up in the nice bunny orange suits, with three protective layers plus sealed hood with viewports, they slowly made their way to the elevators on Block A which would lead them ten floors down towards the middle corridor. From there, they would have to go by stairs, as the elevators were not in working condition, approximately thirteen floors down to the floor where the senators were.

The way down is slow and somewhat troublesome, as the HazMat suit and air tank weighted heavily on their progress. As they climb down the stairs, they walk by several Air Force Security Forces soldiers, donning full MOPP gear which, despite not being fully sealed as the HazMat suits the agents were wearing, still offered minimum protection and allowed them to help evacuating the cleared floors more effectively.

Tony notices the difference in their uniforms and complains, "why aren't they wearing this monkey suit like us? I'm cooking in here, I'm sweating and I can't scratch my back."

"Because they are working only in cleared out floors, that's why the MOPP suit."

"Mop suit? Are they cleaning the floors with their suits?" Ziva asks confused, looking at the strange but much lighter gear the Air Force Security Forces are wearing.

"Not M-o-p suit, Agent David. M-O-P-P suit. It stands for Mission Oriented Protective Posture suit. It is a gear conductive with search and rescue and applicable only for cleared areas. We're going to an area that might not be cleared yet, hence the bright bunny suit."

There were already NEST (Nuclear Oriented Search team) officers clearing SL18 up to 19, and Gibbs' team would help clearing the next three floors, before the next team would come down, and so forth. They were rotating the teams every two hours, in order to keep exposure to whatever contaminant they might find down there to a minimum.

They walk down the stairs in the heavy HazMat suits, watching the Air Force officers and very few marines helping to carry wounded and scared scientists upstairs. Some looked a little bit rough around the edges, while others had obviously hurt themselves during the explosion, when heavy things either fell on top of them or they were crunched by some piece of furniture collapsing.

They finally reach sublevel 20, and greet a NEST officer with a Geiger counter at the door. He immediately sweeps it up and down and indicates that they should follow him.

"What can you tell us, Officer?"

Jack follows the HazMat clad officer, who points to several other NEST officers sweeping the rooms with Geiger counters, and some HazMat clad doctors were administering some first aid in order to move the injured out of that level.

"So far, this floor only had three working offices, we only had minor injuries. We have another NEST team trying to check the radiation levels in the next sealed pocket, which includes SL 21, 22, 23, before we attempt to break the seal and rescue those in there."

"The senators are in SL 21, Anthropology Lab, which is the easier access route to them?" asks Gibbs, observing the movement of the three MOPP clad airmen carrying a wounded woman, dressed in a lab coat, towards the stairs to take her upstairs.

"There are two stairs going down, each one beside an elevator shaft. The elevator shafts were sealed once the alarm went off, with blast doors closing after each three levels. The fire doors on SL21 are tightly shut, so we're making tiny holes in the structure to study if air inside is contaminated or not, before we attempt to override the security codes."

"Ah, Boss?" comes McGee's voice by the radio.

"What McGee."

"There's another option." Jack glances up from the map in the NEST officer's hands at Gibbs, shaking his head asking him to proceed. Gibbs looks at the security camera filming them.

"What option, McGee?"

Upstairs, Hope enhances and enlarges the holographic projection of the SL 20 and 21. McGee leaves his computer and walks up to Joy, who is studying the map.

"You don't have to go through the door or the main corridor to access the Anthropology Lab. You can access it directly through SL 20."

"How?" That picks Gibbs' and Jack's attention.

"Through Mom's office," says Joy, looking at the map. She signals to Hope, who enlarges the holograph again, showing the detailed wirings and the thickness between one floor and the other.

"Maggie's office is situated directly above a small section of the Anthropology lab. That section is not that thick, no wirings or tubes in between, just a simple slab of concrete. It could easily be breached in order to access the lower floor."

"You mean, by blowing up a section of the floor, we could get to them faster." Says Jack with a smile, "I like how your kid thinks."

"Wouldn't that disrupt the integrity of the structure?" The NEST officer shakes his head at Gibbs, studying again the map in his hand under a powerful halogen flashlight .

"If we were to make a controlled explosion, in a relatively small area, it could be done, as long as we had full assurances that we're not opening a can of worms or, more specifically, a radiation pit."

"Or maybe we don't have to blow the floor up at first," says Faith, her forehead creasing in a frown as she tries to remember something she's overheard, "mom has mentioned that she was working on a portable laser bean, strong enough to cut through concrete. Any chance it might in her office?"

Jack stares at the NEST officer, who shrugs and motions to the movement of MOPP officers evacuating the last offices, declaring they were clear of people.

"You're free to look. My team is going to start testing the air of the next floor. If I may be excused." He folds his map and leaves, leaving Jack and Gibbs, Tony and Ziva waiting for the last agents to leave so they can go to Maggie's Lab. Once they've cleared the corridor, Jack leads the NCIS agents down the corridor, bypassing several boring wooden doors, until they reach one which had a small copper plaque "Dr. Prof. Margareth Louise Buchanan, Ph.D." on the door.

Jack glances at a NEST officer at the end of the corridor, who points to a small fluorescent marking on the wall, which indicates that the room has been checked and cleared by the previous team.

Jack opens the door, entering the Buchanan sanctuary followed by Gibbs, Tony and Ziva.


	33. Maggie's sanctuary

_**Chapter 33: Maggie's sanctuary**_

The agents pause, feeling as if they are invading a very private part of Maggie's life. The red emergency lights casted a very singular atmosphere to the room. It is a relatively big office. The boring gray walls had been carefully covered with complex representation tables of several chemical elements and one side of the office was dominated by a white board filled in every tiny corner with equations.

On the lefthand wall, a huge bookcase occupied the whole wall, the honeycomb structure overflowing with thick calculus or engineering books, all of them seeming to having been read frequently. A working table in the middle of the room was clean, but underneath it they could see several different boxes filled with dismantled computer parts and electronics. On the right corner of the office was Maggie's private desk, and beside it more delicate shelves held more personal knickknacks, such as pictures, souvenirs or things which, for some reason, meant something to the Buchanan's matriarch.

"Okay, kids," Jack looks around the room, sweeping his bright blue halogen flashlight around the darkened room, breaking their study of the place, "If you were Maggie and you had hidden a laser weapon in your office, where would you put it?"

Gibbs walks towards Maggie's table, and he feels his heart constrict as his flashlight illuminates the carefully organized pencils and pens, separated by color in baby blue cases, with Hello Kitty stickers holding a small note, "I love you, grandma!" in a child's handwriting.

"She would not leave it in an obvious place, for security reasons," Ziva approaches the whiteboard, her flashlight illuminating it and as she studies the numbers on it once again she is amazed at the intelligence of the dragon lady.

Tony walks up to the shelves holding the pictures, and notices that besides the framed pictures of the Buchanan household there is a picture of the team as well, right beside another picture of Matthew holding a laughing Sarah McGee in his arms, and another with Joy and Timothy and Jethro the dog sitting outside the steps of the Buchanan Georgetown house.

He takes the team's picture in his hand, and gazes at it with a small smile in his face, when he catches something from the corner of his eyes, something which does not match the rest of the top of the line office. He immediately points his flashlight towards it to see it better, and frowns at it.

"Hey Joy, does your mom sew?"

His question is so out in left field that everyone in the office with him turn to look at him, as well as all three siblings and McGee freeze at the strange question.

Joy glances at McGee who simply shakes his head, uncertain about why Tony is asking such strange question.

"Sew?" Hope snorts, "Mom says that there is a reason why God created Shopping Malls, so we would never have to worry about sewing clothes again."

"Tony, my mom is a scientist. She holds several bachelor degrees and two PhDs. She's a brilliant nuclear scientist and weapons engineer, but she wouldn't fix a button on a shirt if her life depended on it. Why are you asking that?" Joy shakes her head, trying to understand the question.

Gibbs walks up to where Tony is standing, who promptly points to something behind Maggie's desk hidden from the other's view, "If she doesn't sew, why does she have a sewing machine and a patchwork box behind her desk?"

Gibbs and Jack walk around the table until they are before the patchwork box, and try to open it, "It's locked," Jack glances up and points to the worktable, "see if you find anything we can use to pry this open."

Ziva rushes to the desk, trying to find any tool that might help them. She finds one and brings it the two older men, who pry it open with difficulty, finding a very neat laser weapon resting on a bed of tiny colorful cloth pieces. Gibbs smiles and shakes his head at the incongruent image of such deadly weapon on such delicate arrangement.

"Very smart, Maggie." Jack chuckles as he takes it in his hand, and check the energy chamber. "Interesting, it's loaded. It's not a design that I've seen before." He walks to the center of the office with the weapon in his gloved hands, and glances at the three NCIS agents.

"We've got the weapon, where do we cut now?"

McGee goes back to the surveillance videos, checking the position of the civilians in the lower floor, "you'd better try the first cut on the left hand corner approximately one meter and a half from the room corner."

"What? In English, please?" Jack complains, and Gibbs shakes his head at his junior agent, who until then…

"McGee!"

"Ah… uhm… five feet from the left wall and two feet from the other wall, Boss."

"Ah," Jack takes the measurements, and stands on the spot suggested. He loads the weapon, the thing hissing as it powers up, "You'd better cover your eyes, kids."

Gibbs, Tony and Ziva hide behind the massive wooden desk and cover their eyes, as Jack points the weapon to the floor, lowers the dark colored visor over his helmet and pulls the trigger.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Have you heard that?" Cam immediately goes on alert, looking around for the source of the sound that he's just heard.

"Heard what?" Daniel stands up from the corner of the lab, where he was attending a wounded aide with a cut on his leg.

"A hissing sound."

"No, I haven't."

The sound repeats, and now everyone is quiet trying to identify it, "what is that?"

One of the senators stands up and looks up at the ceiling, trying to identify sound.

Cam frowns as the sound becomes more persistent, "It almost sounds like…" Cam and Daniel look at each other in panic, then at the senator standing right under the spot where the sound is coming. Cam springs in a run and jumps, tackling the senator to the floor a few seconds before the laser beacon penetrates the concrete and hits the floor underneath.

"What the hell…" Daniel shouts, staring at the hole created on the ceiling. He glances at Cam, who is struggling with the pissed off Senator.

"How dare you do this? I'm a senator of the United States."

"And you would be a very _dead_ senator of the United States if you'd stayed under that beam." He slaps the dust from his clothes, and looks up, and both Daniel and Cam are surprised when, after a few minutes, a small wire is introduced in the small hole in the ceiling.

It's a fiber optic camera.


	34. Jack Daniel Whisky Scotch Bourbon…

**_Chapter 34: Jack Daniel Whisky Scotch Bourbon…_**

Once Jack was able to make a small hole in the floor, he signaled to Gibbs to send one of his agents to call the NEST officer sweeping the corridor.

The Officer came into the office and immediately started checking the atmosphere if there was any variation in the radiation. Surprisingly, the radiation levels in the lab on SL 21 were minimal, exactly as the ones in the SL 20.

The Officer then radioed his supervisor, who came with one of the fiber optic cameras being used in their checking the rooms before opening them. He prepared the cable and slowly introduced the delicate fiber into the laser cut hole, while Jack, Gibbs, Ziva and Tony looked transfixed at the small screen, until the people in the lower floor appeared scared, but unharmed in the video.

"Yes!" Jack celebrates, "Anyway you can send a message to them? Telling to stay away from that spot on the ceiling as we're going to blow it up?"

"Only if you write in a piece of paper small enough that we can shove it down this hole, as the video is one way stream, no audio." They look at the camera, and see Daniel waving his arms in the air, shouting at the camera.

The agents start looking around the office, and Tony's gaze immediately is riveted at a pink notice block on top of Maggie's desk. He walks towards it and waves it triumphantly in the air, "would this do?"

Jack walks up to the NCIS agent and smirks at the Barbie's drawings on the notice book, covered in highly advanced formulas in Maggie's neat handwriting.

"Well, I hope so." He finds a blank page and writes a little note on it, then rolls it very thin and hands it to the officer, who collects the fiber optic camera and shoves the piece of paper in the hole, pushing it down with the camera again.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"No, no... please, don't go away," moans one of the aides, who promptly starts crying again as the camera disappears in the hole.

"Maybe they were just checking to see if we were alive," says one of the Senators.

"I wonder who is leading the rescue teams," mutters Daniel, pushing his glasses back into his face.

"Something is coming down," Cam stares at the hole, as a small pink piece of paper is shoved through the hole, falling to the floor.

Daniel rushes to the middle of the room, unrolling the little piece of paper and reading it, "Hey, I know that handwriting."

"What?" Cam walks up to him and reads it over his shoulder. The message was short, direct, and extremely horrifying.

"_**Take cover. We're blowing up the ceiling.  
Jack."**_

The two SG1 members look at each other for a second, and before turning to the ceiling at the camera, which is staring at them unblinkingly. Daniel lowers his eyes, and studies the lab, pointing to the furthest corner to the right of the point where the camera was coming out of the ceiling as a possible hideout. So he and Cam start gathering all senators, aides and anthropologists, who, murmuring and complaining, finally are all gathered behind a sturdy table that they will use as a cover.

Once they are all hidden, Cam gives an okay sign to the camera, which soon disappears and the hissing sound is heard again, this time louder. They see the laser beam making a few more holes in the ceiling, and then silence.

"What do you think they are doing?" asks one of the senators, who up until then had kept quiet, as a heavy artifact had hit his head and he was complaining of a bad headache.

"Well, if it's really Jack up there, as far as I know him, he's getting ready to-"

An explosion is heard, and a section of the ceiling comes down, knocking the emergency lights out and bringing a rain of dust and smoke. They cough and wave their hands before their faces, as the stale air in the room gets a new intake of breeze and they are immersed in darkness, the only source of light coming from the open hole in the ceiling. Someone inserts a strong blue halogen flashlight into the hole, trying to illuminate the lab.

"Is anybody there?" Jack's voice sounds distorted, but it has never been more welcome than at that moment. Daniel shakes his head as he waves to the other people to stand up, as a rope is thrown through the almost circular hole in the ceiling.

"In here."

A man clad in a HazMat suit climbs down, reaching the floor and immediately starts taking readings of the air, then turns to sweep up and down each of the people inside the room.

"What's going on?" Cam stares at the soldier, and notices that he isn't one of guards from the upper levels , but someone completely foreign inside the HazMat suit, who nods quietly before answering, "Just procedure, Colonel."

He signals that the colonel should open his arms, which Cam does reluctantly, while the other men and women wait for their turn looking confused at the man in orange gear.

"Daniel!" comes Jack muffled voice by his HazMat helmet, shouting through the hole and illuminating them with a halogen flashlight, "get your ass over here."

Daniel looks at the marine, who nods and rushes to stand under the hole, "What the hell is going on, Jack?" Daniel has to cover his eyes, as Jack turns the flashlight to his face.

"Nuclear explosion in the last sub-level. Whole complex went into complete shut down. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I feel fine." He looks at the NEST officer, who is now taking readings of one of the senators, who nods lightly.

"General, their exposure was minimal, they are free to go."

"Exposure?" Senator Trevor's face takes an interesting shade of red, "exposure to what?"

"Ah... we don't know yet, but rest assured that we'll keep you posted once we find out," says Cam with a fake smile, then turns to look up the hole, noticing that General O'Neill is flanked by three other people.

"How do we get out of here now?"

"Tie the rope to your waist, we will fish you out," says Jack with a smile in his voice, which earns him an eye-roll from Daniel and a smirk from Cam, as both men are aware of Jack's fondness for fishing.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

After the delicate procedure of fishing senators out, they started with the aides, two antropologists, finally Cam and Daniel and the HazMat clad guy.

As soon as the rescued people were in SL 20 two other officers started attending their wounds and cuts, and injecting them with anti-radiation medicine to counterbalance their short exposure to the radiation and getting them ready to move out to the surface.

Daniel is checked throughly by a doctor, under Jack's attentive eyes, who was just waiting to finally talk with his ex-teammate. Finally the doc releases him, and allows him to approach the General.

Daniel looks confused at Jack and at the other people with him, not recognizing any of them.

"Jack?"

"Daniel."

"Jaaaack."

"Daniel."

"Jack?"

"Daaanieeelll"

"Scotch," says Tony.

"Whisky," says Ziva.

"Bourbon," says Gibbs, with a smirk in his face.

"_What_?" Both Jack and Daniel look at the NCIS agents as if they were crazy.

"You were naming spirits, were you not?" asks Ziva, confused.

"No, we're just saying our names... but … What are you doing here?"

"What? Aren't you happy to see me? I came all the way here to save your sorry ass and that's the way you greet me?"

"No, that's not it." Cam, after being checked out, goes to Daniel's side and salutes the general with a nod of his head, and studies the people by his side. "What are you doing in Nevada? You were supposed to be in DC?" He looks at the strangers, "And who are they?"

"Well, apparently we've received Intel of what happened first so I was able to organize a rescue. Came as fast as I could when I realized how bad it could be."

"How bad it could be?" whispers Daniel, just to be interrupted by Cam, who glances at the senators being tended before approaching the HazMat clad general.

"And what exactly has happened in here?" He asks in a low voice, conscious of the three senators receiving first aid just a few feet from them.

Jack tries to scratch his head, just to have his hand touch his helmet. "Crap," he glances at Daniel and then indicates with his head that he should follow him to the right corner of the room. Daniel and Cam follow the four people, and Jack makes the introduction.

"Daniel, these are Special Agent Gibbs, David and DiNozzo, they are from NCIS. Kids, these are Daniel Jackson, aka Space Monkey, and Colonel Cameron Mitchell, both from SG1, my former team."

"Hi," Daniel waves his hand, "NCIS? What are they doing here? Who gave them clearance?"

Jack walks to one of the portraits, which cracked with the explosion in Maggie's lab. He takes it in his gloved hand, cleans the glass from it and shows it to Daniel and Cam.

"You know Maggie Buchanan, don't you?"

Cam takes the picture, and recognizes the people in the picture as the people in front of him, "Yeah, the dragon lady doc."

Daniel turns to look at him, surprised that he knows that moniker. Tony and Ziva smile as they notice that they are not the only ones with nicknames for Maggie.

Cam looks up as he feels the glare of General O'Neill on himself, and tries to explain himself, "I've dated one of the scientists in SL 37. That's how they... she … ah..."

"Anyway," Jack interrupts Cam before he digs a bigger hole for himself, "Maggie was on the phone with one of her daughters, who happens to be an NCIS agent, at the exact moment of the explosion. She and her team immediately contacted me, who contacted the Joint Chiefs, who contacted General Landry and the rest is history."

"And that's why you are here too." Daniel points to the NCIS agents, who nod.

"Not exactly. We're here to help rescue Maggie. You were just a small detour in the mission," says Tony with a smile in his face.

"Ah..." Daniel nods, "that makes me feel really special. But where is Maggie?"

"Down in sub-level 37," says the silver haired man that Jack has introduced as Agent Gibbs.

"But that's where the explosion happened."

"Exactly."

"How are you getting down there?"

"Well, that's actually a very good ques-"

There is a bright flash of light and Gibbs, Tony, Ziva, Cam, Daniel and Jack are beamed out of Area 51, appearing seconds later in the bridge of the Hammond.

"-tion," Gibbs finishes his sentence, and he looks up and finds himself in a very different place, with several people in gray flight suits and a huge window showing a fantastic view of the planet outside. He frowns as just seconds before he was in a barely lit room several floors down, and when he looks up a very attractive blonde with baby blue eyes walks up and smiles mischievously at them.

"Welcome to the bridge of the Hammond, gentlemen."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"They're gone," says McGee, staring at the surveillance cameras frantically.

"Who is gone?"

"Gibbs! Ziva! Tony!" he changes the views of the cameras, trying to catch a glimpse of them in other cameras in the corridor, but without success.

Joy approaches him and leans over his shoulder, "They can't be gone, they were just there."

"There was a bright flash of light and they were gone! How can I lose them like that? Boss will kill me! What if they are dead? Oh my God!" He hides his face in his hands, inconsolable.

"Bright flash of light?" one of the Majors hears McGee's complaint, and approaches his side.

"Yeah, they were just there and puff, they disappeared." McGee points to the screen, blatantly empty of his teammates, and gets irritated at the small smile in the Major's face.

"It's not funny, I've lost them."

"Not exactly," he approaches another tech, "Open radio communications, please."

Faith frowns, "I was under the impression that radio communications were down throughout the base."

"In the base yes, not to outer space." The sisters look at each other confused as the Major calls out in the radio.

"Hammond, this is Nellis, do you copy?" There is some static, and the major tries again, "Hammond, this is Nellis, do you copy?"

There is some adjustment in the sound, then a human voice comes, "Nellis, this is Hammond, we hear you loud and clear, copy that," there is a small cheering wave inside the control room, and McGee frowns staring at the radio.

"We've just lost visual contact with General O'Neill, Colonel Mitchell and Dr. Jackson and three others with them. Would you by any chance have them on board?"

There's a small pause, then the human voice comes again, "Affirmative," Major O'Donnell looks grinning to the Buchanan sisters and the male NCIS agent, who are looking curiously at him. "Colonel Carter was a mite anxious with her teammates' status, and as soon as we got into orbit we've tracked them down. They are being taken to infirmary to be checked out at this moment."

"Oh, nooooo," moans McGee, hiding his face in his hands again, and hunching his shoulder as if trying to disappear.

"What? That's good news, you didn't lose them. They are safe and sound," says Faith, not understanding why McGee is complaining now.

McGee turns his chair and stares at Joy, with a self conscious smile on his face, "That's not what worries me."

"What are you worried about then?" Joy looks at him confused as he starts to chuckle lightly and leans back on the chair, staring at the boring gray ceiling.

"Tony."

"Tony?"

"Yes, Tony."

"Why?"

"I'll never stop hearing about that now."

"McGee? You're not making any sense."

"Because he actually got to be _inside_ a spaceship in orbit before me, and he's going to rub that in my face until the day that I die."

Joy's eyes become comically wide, as she imagines her teammate running through the corridors of the Hammond making jokes about all movies about space travel known to mankind, and then his smug face when he finally gets to see McGee again.

"Oh."

"Oh, indeed."


	35. Christmas at the Buchanan's

_**Christmas at the Buchanan's**_

_Long Before You Drew Your First Breath_  
_A Dream Was Coming True_

_God Wanted to Give A Gift To The World_  
_So He Wrapped It Up In You_

_Every Step That You've Taken_  
_Every Move That You Make_  
_Is Part Of His Plan_

_**Meant to be - Steven Curtis Chapman**_

"Guess who comes bearing gifts?"

"UNCLE JAAAACKKKKK" the gleeful squeals of joy of little boys are heard throughout the house, as several tiny feet rush down the stairs towards the tall man in an aviator jacket, standing beside a beautiful blue eyed blond with a bundle in blue blankets.

Joseph steps back to let Mark project himself from the floor to Jack's arms, squealing with joy as Jack humphs and starts spinning with a laughing Mark in his arms, "Where's my GI Joe?"

"In heeeereee," squeals Mark, as Jack turns him upside down and enters the house with the little boy in his arms, while Luke jumped also begging to be taken in his arms.

"Hey little guy," Jack messes up Luke's hair, puts Mark on he floor and grabs the him in a firefighters hold, bringing gales of laughter of the little boy, just to be chastened by his wife.

"Jack, be careful with him, you'll hurt him."

"Nahh…"he dismisses her, and starts blowing raspberries in the little boy's belly, bringing even more laughter to his blue eyes, "he likes it, don't ya, Luke?"

The two blond girls warily approach the funny man who is playing with the boys, while the blond woman enters the room and kisses Joseph in his cheek, "Ignore him, it's the effect of too many cappuccinos on the way here," she walks into the room and smiles at them, as they were additions to the Buchanan's clan she hadn't yet the pleasure to meet, "you two must be Grace and Hope, nice to meet you ladies."

She walks by the living room and drops the baby bag on the sofa and sits on the sofa, unwrapping the little boy in her arms and showing an angelical face with a beautiful blue hat, immediately attracting the attention of the girls.

"Would you like to meet my little boy? This is Charlie."

The two girls rush to her side, each sitting at one side, and coo over the little boy, "he's so tiny," says Grace, stretching her hand and being surprised by the baby's firm grip of his tiny hand in her finger.

"Yes he is, but he's strong, just like his father," says Sarah, glancing smiling at Jack who is smiling at her, with a hand over each of the boy's shoulders. She's happy she was able to break the ice with the adopted girls.

Joseph hangs by the door and looks at his wife, Maggie, standing in front of him under the softly falling snow, her dark long hair framing her oval face, and smiles at the picture she makes at the front porch.

"Hey beautiful," he whispers, and opens his arms, and Maggie doesn't hesitate to hug him firmly, hiding her face in his chest. Her jacket clad arms hug him tight by his waist.

"I've missed you," Joseph whispers against her hair, and she leans back and looks at his face, "Hi, love."

They kiss softly, the strain of separation of seven weeks being transmitted in each second they are together, until they hear someone clearing his throat. They separate and look at the airman standing in the cold, by the Air Force designated car that drove them from the airport to the Buchanan's household.

"Sir, where should I put the luggage?" he asks fidgeting in the snow, eager to get back inside the warm car.

Joseph smiles against Maggie's hair, and waves the airman in, "forget the luggage, we can bring it inside later, let's have a hot cup of coffee."

The airman smiles at the friendly welcome, which is more than what he had expected for bringing the officers to this house. He takes his cap off before entering the house, and smiles at the friendly and warm atmosphere inside.

Joseph asks the airman his name, as Maggie walks out of his arms and kneels on the floor, smiling at Matthew who is hiding his face in Heidy's legs.

"Hi sweety, did you miss me?" He peeks from behind the nanny's legs, and sticks one of his fingers in his mouth, blinking repeatedly his big blue eyes to her. "Come on, don't you remember mommy?" the little boy glances up at Heidy, who frees his hands from her leg and pushes him lightly towards Maggie.

The little boy walks two steps towards Maggie, and stops, studying her face as if trying to memorize it. Maggie waits patiently, as she had been through that before with the older kids, as they sometimes need a little bit of time to reacquaint themselves with a parent who spends weeks away.

He takes another step, and Maggie scoops him in a hug, filling her arms with sweet smelling boy, his little arms going around her neck in a tight grip, "Hi Matthew, I missed you too, baby."

Joseph smiles at the scene, where his family is slowly settling down, along with his friends and taps the young man with his cap in his hand, standing nervously by the door, "come in, you're letting the hot air out." He closes the door after the airman, and guides him into the kitchen, being followed by Maggie holding a clinging Matthew in her arms.

"He grew up so much during these last weeks," murmurs Maggie, hugging him tightly in her arms.

"Yes, he is a good eater, my boy, aren't you?" says Heidy, going to the fridge taking some juice she had prepared earlier and pouring some in a glass and offering it to Maggie, who gladly takes it after sitting Matthew in the table.

"Is he eating all his vegetables?" she takes a sip of the juice, then gives one to him as well as he lifts his hands asking for the glass. "Don't spill, ok? Sip slowly."

"His, Mark's, Luke's… everyones."

Maggie laughs as she keeps holding the glass, as Matthew finishes the juice and returns the glass to her.

Joseph offers a glass of hot coffee to the airman, and approaches his wife and hugs her, kissing her head, "come, there's someone I want you to meet."

Maggie immediately tenses, and looks up at his face, searching it carefully and noticing the worry in his eyes, "the new girl?"

He nods, and squeezes her lightly against his chest, and slowly guides her to the living room where their kids are playing with the O'Neills, and they immediately notice when something changes.


	36. A heartbreaking meeting

**_Chapter 36: A heartbreaking meeting_**

_You Were Meant To Be Touching_  
_The Lives That You Touch_  
_And Meant To Be Here_  
_Making This World So Much More_  
_Than It Would Be Without You In It_

_You Were Meant To Be Bringing_  
_The Gifts That You Bring_  
_And Singing The Songs_  
_You've Been Given To Sing_

_**Meant to be - Steven Curtis Chapman**_

Jack lifts his eyes from where he's goofing around on the floor with Mark and Luke and freezes when he sees a little girl standing at the top of the stairs, watching the people having fun with big dark eyes, staring at him between the banisters of the stairs.

"Hey, I haven't met you before." Sarah looks up at the little girl, whose little face is stuck between the banisters.

Her squared jawed face was framed with beautiful curly brown hair, her deep brown eyes staring at the antics of the children with longing and a tiny bit of sadness.

"Naomi, would you come down, please? There are some people I'd like you to meet."

Joseph guides Maggie by her shoulders to the end of the stairs, and both watch the girl studying them with serious eyes for a minute, before leaving her position on the top of the stairs and slowly climbing down the stairs, her tiny hand gliding down the railing.

She stops at the last step, and looks with serious eyes at Maggie. She's curious about this lady who had been in one of the pictures in Joseph's wallet. She then glances at Jack and Sarah, who are silently observing her too.

"Naomi, this is Maggie, my wife. Would you say hello her to her?"

The little girl's attention is on Jack, who is sitting with a wiggling Luke in his lap on the floor.

"Don't be silly, Mr. Buchanan. She can't speak. How will she say hello to Mrs. Buchanan?" moans Grace, looking at brown haired girl with contempt.

"Grace," growls Joseph, getting mad at the oldest girl attitude. However both he and Maggie are surprised when the little girl takes a step forward, staring at Maggie's middle with a frown.

"Hi sweetie." The little girl leans and touches Maggie's tummy, poking it as if looking for something.

Maggie looks confused at Joseph, who frowns for a moment as he looks at the little girl trying to see under Maggie's jacket, before he smiles and holds out his hand, taking the little girl's hands in his, "No, no. She's not pregnant anymore."

The little girl looks up at him with a huge question mark in her face, and Maggie frowns at their exchange, "What?"

"The picture in my wallet. Ah.. You were pregnant with Faith when we took it." He says to Maggie. "That's an old picture. Faith is already gone to University. Maggie is not pregnant anymore," he says to the little girl, whose face changes in a _ah, I got it _expression_,_ then takes a step back to look up at the brunette looking down at her.

Jack stands up from the floor, and starts walking towards the Buchanan couple, "So are you really thinking about -" he freezes, when the little girl stares at him with huge eyes when she notices his size and takes two steps back, her skinny pj clad arms automatically going to her head as if to protect herself from him.

The silence becomes deafening in the room, as the adults stare at the little girl recoiling in fear, their hearts breaking a little before such clear sign of abuse.

The kids fidget uncomfortably, uncertain of what is going on.

Jack, in turn, feels his heart constricting as he sees the girl shaking in fear away from him, the goofiest guy on earth, who loves kids and who would never hurt a child. This tiny skinny doll had the power to, in one single act, destroy everything he thought he was. He glances at Joseph, and sees how heartbroken his friend is, looking at her with sad and teary eyes.

Joseph kneels before the girl, taking the care of not touching her, "Hey, look at me."

She slowly moves her arms away from her face, her tiny nose and mouth and one eye appearing from behind her lifted arms, "this is a friend of mine. His name is Jack." She blinks and slowly starts to lower her arms, looking at Jack wearily, still ready to bolt. "He's not going to hurt you. Just look how he is with Mark and Luke. He would never hurt you or any other child."

She studies Joseph's face, examining him before looking at Jack, who had in turn knelt on the floor beside Joseph, just a couple of steps behind, and now had Luke sitting on his folded knee.

She studies his hands, how he holds the little boy with care and slowly relaxes, her face becoming a placid mask again as she dismisses the adult and starts walking towards the kitchen under the careful watch of the grownups, takes a banana from the fruit basket and sits in the corner of the kitchen, on the floor, eating it.

"Is she always like that?" asks Maggie, staring at the little girl silently eating the banana and swinging to and fro.

Joseph rubs trembling hands over his face, before he stands up slowly and looks at Maggie, "she's better today. At least she's not inside of the cupboard anymore."

Maggie turns to him, confused at his information. Joseph nods, "You know the laundry cupboard in the attic, where you keep all your mom's patchwork blankets? She's built a fort in there, and she hides in there whenever the boys are too noisy."

Maggie shakes her head, astonished with the information her husband is giving her, "Why?"

Heidy enters the kitchen, and puts the dirty juice cup in the sink, then walks towards the airman and collects his coffee cup, saying, "She doesn't know how to play. I don't think she has ever learnt how to. But that's not the only thing she does. Watch this."

She leaves the dirty cups in the sink, and takes two steps back. The girl glances up at her, then at the sink. She immediately throws the peeling of the banana out, gets one of the dinner table chair and pushes it towards the sink. She then proceeds to climb on it and carefully wash the two cups under the astonished eyes of the adults, who look at each other with surprise.

"I'll be damned," mutters Jack, just to receive a light tap on his middle from Maggie. "Ouch."

"Little pitchers have big ears," she points to the boys, who had lost interest in the new girl and are now back to playing with their toys in the living room carpet.

He rubs his middle, then looks at Joseph, who is watching the little girl with weariness, "Why does she do that?"

"I have no idea. As far as I know, she was taught that. I mean, Heidy can't even turn her back on the dirty dishes that she is already there tackling them down. It's almost …" Joseph sighs, and Maggie turns to look at him, silently begging him to continue, and Joseph says looking at his wife, "almost as she was conditioned to look after the household chores, with no chance of being a real kid. All her interactions are either filled with fear or dread. She doesn't interact with the girls, and to be sincere, the only one she gets along with at all is Matthew."

"But that's probably because Matthew doesn't speak much, and still whenever they are together they simply stay quiet, playing Lego," says Heidy, putting away the glasses the little girl has just washed.

The girl climbs down the chair and pushes it back to its place, then walks towards Joseph as if waiting for his next order. Joseph kneels before her, then she looks at him, her gaze however is fixed at something over his right shoulder, as the Sheriff had mentioned she would space out sometimes.

"Naomi, I want you to do something for me."

She nods silently.

"I want you to go play with Matthew. He needs help with the Legos. Can you do that for me?"

Her gaze moves from the point over his shoulder to his face, then she nods silently before going towards where Matthew is pulling the Lego pieces apart. She kneels beside the little boy, who promptly starts giving her pieces of the toy so she can attach them together.

Jack follows her with sad eyes, as the airman, which the adults had forgotten for a moment was also in the room, mutters, "I've known a kid like her before."

Joseph glances at the airman, who glances nervously at the officer and the scientist he was ordered to bring home. "What do you mean, like her?"

"Ah..." he turns his cap nervously in his hand, "you know, retarded. Or mentally hindered. But with proper medical follow up, kids like her can adapt and live in society."

Joseph frowns at the airman's words, who flinches as he notices his faux-pas. "Ah... sir... Ah..."

"Excuse me," Joseph says, before he leaves the room heading towards the music room, not before glancing the little girl slowly attaching one piece of Lego to other.

Maggie's heart goes out to her husband, who, in the short period in which he had contact with the little girl, has already bonded with the child.

Maggie glares at the airman, who fidgets a little under her heated glare, and follows Joseph out of the room, leaving Jack, Sarah and Heidy with all those kids in the living room.

Charlie starts to fidget, and the blond girls are all over Sarah wanting to look at the little boy. With Sarah's attention on their little boy, Jack slowly approaches the little girl, sitting on the floor with her back against the back of the sofa, and he studies her playing silently with the Legos with Matthew.

Matthew would tear apart the pieces he had already built, and pass the pieces to the girl, then he would stretch his little hand to her and she would put the piece in his hand again, while he would bite his lip with a frown of concentration trying to put the pieces together.


	37. Jack breaks the ice

**_Chapter 37: Jack breaks the ice_**

_You Are Perfectly, Wonderfully,_  
_Beautifully Meant To Be_  
_You Were Meant To Be_

_Long Before You Took Your First Fall_  
_You stumbled to the ground_  
_God started telling the story of you to the angles around_  
_Every failure and victory_  
_Everything inbetween_  
_Its all in his hand_

_You Were Meant To Be Touching_  
_The Lives That You Touch_  
_And Meant To Be Here_  
_Making This World So Much More_  
_Than It Would Be Without You In It _

_**Meant to be - Steven Curtis Chapman**_

Maggie's finds Joseph standing by the big windows of the music room overlooking the garden, and the big wooden table they've put on the backyard a couple of years ago. She notices his tense shoulders and how emotionally raw he is, as the responsibility of his choices of the last days were weighting heavily on his shoulders.

"Joseph, I -"

"She's not retarded." He says in a resolute voice, not bearing space for discussion.

"We have to consider the possibility."

He turns to her, his instance tense as he stands with his feet apart and his hands behind his back in a position that she hasn't seen her husband take since he was dismissed due to his injuries from the Air Force. "I refuse to believe that."

"Honey."

"No, listen me out. She _followed _me here. I don't know how, but she crossed half of the country after some hypothetical ideal of what a family should be, thanks to the pictures I had in my wallet." He argues passionately, taking two steps towards Maggie, who shakes her head softly. "It has to mean something."

"I'm not dismissing what she has done as insignificant," he waves his hands wearily, and Maggie presses on, "but we have to consider the other children as well. I understand how you feel this... connection to her, but she will demand a lot attention. Attention that I don't know if we can give her."

"She was hurt, Maggie. She was..." Joseph shakes his head, as if denying what he's about to say, then he walks towards Maggie and takes her by her shoulders, "She was beaten. Brutally beaten. Her back..."Joseph blinks, and Maggie's heart is torn as Joseph starts to cry, "... her back is mess of scars. Some are a few months old, but some … I think she was beaten since she was a little older than Matthew." Maggie sobs, horrified at the thought of her sweet little Matthew going through that. "Yet she has survived. And I really can't turn my back to her, give her back to Sheriff Clay and wash my hands on the subject. If I do that, every single time I look at one of our kids, her face will haunt me."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"You know, I like this," says Jack, putting the Lego pieces together, noticing the little girl watching him from the corner of her eyes, her head low, but he was painfully aware how she was always extremely watchful of the position of his hands.

He smirks a little as he notices her awareness, and he is deeply convinced that she's not retarded as the airman had just suggested. Wounded, yes. Scared of her own shadow, definitely. Retarded, never. She was much too smart to be that.

He sees she has just noticed him studying her, and she lowers her head, hiding her eyes - therefore, her thoughts - from him.

_Ahh... I've gotcha._

"You know, I've just realized that I've forgotten something, that might lead me into trouble with that lady over there," he points to Sarah, who is still talking to Grace. Heidy went upstairs to put Mark and Luke into bed as both boys, despite their complaints, were already falling asleep on the spot they were.

She looks up and studies him with her deep brown eyes, and Jack can't help chuckling when one tiny eyebrow goes up as if asking, _"so what?"_

"But I've just realized I can't do that on my own. I need help."

Her face is almost comical, as she looks at him as if he went crazy.

"I have a mission to accomplish, and only someone like you can help me. It's a very important mission for the United States Air Force."

She looks impressed, and then glances at Grace and Hope who are going upstairs with Sarah and Charlie, getting ready to bed.

_What about them?_

"Nah, they can't help me. Too noisy. I need someone silent. Because what I'm about to do," He leans forward, and the little girl leans forward to him as well, and Jack congratulates himself as she is losing her fear of him, "is a secret. Nobody can know," he whispers very low.

She looks at him, studying his face, then glance at the airman and at Matthew, who is yawing widely, and starting to drift with the Lego's in his hand.

"Ah, yeah, there's him, but -"

"I take care of him," says Heidy, coming out of the thin air and taking the little boy in her arms, who automatically leans his head on the crook of her neck and hugs her, "I'll put him to bed."

The nanny then leaves the living room, leaving only Jack and the little girl sitting on the floor, and the airman sitting in a chair in the corner.

"Wanna help in my top secret mission?"

She shrugs, and starts putting away the Legos in the box.

"Come here, I'll tell you what it's about." He moves his finger, calling her towards him, and after a minute looking him in the eyes, she approaches him in her knees, stopping a foot away from him.

_Yes! thinks Jack._

Jack leans over the little girl and whispers in her ear, leaving the airman burning with curiosity what the major can possibly be whispering to the little girl. She leans back and glances at his face, and Jack nods as if to confirm what he has just said.

"I'm telling the truth." He points to the window, "It's out there. But I need help. Can you help me?"


	38. And a name is found and given

**_Chapter 38: And a name is found and given_**

Joseph kisses Maggie's neck, then he leans back a little, his strong arms holding her against his chest, both sniffing a little as they let the emotional storm pass.

"Maggie, I know it's too much to ask from you but... I feel like … that's something I have to do. It's important that we take this child in. I don't know why. Or how." He chuckles wetly, running one of his hands through his hair, "Clay told me that they don't even know her name. And she isn't in any condition of informing us. He's sent some information requests to Detroit but... I don't think she has anyone out there."

Maggie bites her lip, and closes her eyes, one of her hands laying on top of Joseph's chest, her hand feeling the soft beating of his heart under his shirt. She thinks on her children, those she bore to him and those they've sworn to protect, and the scared little girl in the other room.

Amazingly, despite her scars and her tribulations, in no moment she has noticed fear when the little girl looked at Joseph, as if she could sense how gentle was his soul, exactly what her wounded heart needed to heal.

Maggie smiles and opens her eyes, looking into Joseph's weary ones, who is just waiting for her decision. She knows he will accept whatever decision she makes, but she would hurt deeply his gentle heart if she was to turn her back to that adorable child.

"I agree, but with one condition." He smiles and nods, accepting whatever condition she might impose.

"The name Naomi must go. She needs a name fitting to a true Buchanan."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

She frowns and looks at the snow slowly falling outside, then at the man who is before her, with his outstretched hand towards her. She squints at him, considering his intentions, but he smiles and shrugs, "I need an assistant. Are you up to the task?"

She looks at his hand, and slowly deposits her tiny hand in his, earning a huge smile from the tall adult, who slowly stands up and brings her up as well.

He holds her hand in his bigger one, his hand completely engulfing hers in his. He turns to the airman, "Hey, kid, give me my jacket. And the car keys. Me and my assistant, we're going out to the car."

"Sir, it's cold out. She's in her pajamas."

"Ah... We're going out only for a second," he takes the aviator's leather jacket from the airman's hands and wraps it tightly around the little girl. She holds the lapels, sniffing a little at the scent of leather. Jack then leans and looks into her eyes, "I have to hold you in my arms so we can go to the car, is it ok for you?"

The girl blinks and nods, and Jack lifts her carefully settles her in his strong arms, and he feels his heart constrict as he feels her skinny arms going around his neck, as she is probably Hope's age, but she weights as much as Mark, who was years younger than her.

"Let's go outside."

He then walks to the house door, opening it and walking out to the silent winter wonderland picture outside. The lights went on when he stepped outside in the porch, and there was absolutely no wind, so the snow was falling almost vertically, creating a fluffy blanket on the ground and creating an ethereal picture.

He walks towards the softest snow he could find and lowers the little girl on the ground.

"Now just watch. Watch and learn. So you can teach the other kids tomorrow."

He opens his hands and slowly falls backwards in the soft snow. Once he is on the ground, he starts moving his arms and legs on the soft snow, making the snow take flight.

The airman smiles, as he realizes what the major is doing.

Jack sits, and looks back at the impression he left on the snow. He then hears a sound that fills his heart with hope, for the first time since he's seen the little girl at the top of the stars.

A little girl's giggle.

He looks at her, and she is smiling at him, and she can't hold back a tiny giggle, even though she lifts one of her hands to cover her mouth.

"You think it's funny? It's a serious business, this making of snow angels thing. Come on, we have many more to make." He stands up and guides the girl to another pile of snow, and he again falls back on the snow, and moves his arms and legs.

This time, her giggling becomes laughter, as Jack starts making chicken noises as he moves his legs.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Can you hear that?"

"Uhm?"

Joseph releases his hold in Maggie and goes to the window, frowning as he sees what is going on outside, "What the... Jack."

He rushes to the door, being followed closely by a confused Maggie. When both reach their porch, they are surprised to hear gales of laughter resounding in the cold night, as Jack slowly spins the little girl in his arms, with her arms wide open trying to catch snowdrops in her hands, her innocent and free laughter filling up the silence with a sound that echoed through the night.

"I think... I've just figured out what to call her."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The following night, after dinner, the little girl gave Jack a small piece of paper. In it, a beautiful rendering of the blue planet Earth, surrounded by five stars, with an inverted V and a ball on top of it. She then took his hand and guided him outside, pointing to the star filled sky.

"You wanna play again?"

She shook her head, pointed at him and then at the sky.

Jack walked out of the porch and looked up, studying the stars.

"Yes, the stars. They are beautiful, aren't they?"

She rolled her eyes, then pointed at her drawing then at the stars, then at him, trying to transmit some kind of message that he couldn't decipher.

"You know what?" He folds the paper and puts in his pocket, and runs to her and grabs her in his arms, eliciting a yelp from her.

"You wanna play? We're going to play. So you're going to FLYYYY" he starts making airplane noises, as he holds her horizontal and starts spinning with her, her laughter again filling the night sky.

And her drawing was forgotten in his wallet, then later on it was transferred to a box in the attic, where it stayed for years, forgotten.


	39. The time goes by

a/n: The same way I've been through a Rascal Flatts phase, then a Casting Crowns phase, now I'm in a Steven Curtis Chapman phase. This story was conceived to show how love, limitless and overflowing, can heal any wound and also empower us to complete amazing feats. Despite knowing Chapman's songs for several years, only last week I've found out what has happened to his family, which resulted in the heartbreaking song which this whole chapter is about.

Again, I would like to invite you to look up the song _Heaven is the face _by Chapman in youtube, and listen to it as background to this chapter. I've truly imagined that Gathering had been a very difficult and heartbreaking story to write. This chapter had been teasing me mercilessly, begging to be writen.

I hope you enjoy.

* * *

_**Chapter 39: The time goes by**__**  
**_  
_Facing a mirror you see merely your own countenance; facing your child you finally understand how everyone else has seen you. - __**Daniel Raeburn**__, The New Yorker, 05-01-2006_

_Heaven is the face of a little girl_  
_With dark brown eyes_  
_That disappear when she smiles_

And so the time went by in the Buchanan household. Further requests of information by Sheriff Claybourn in the Childhood Care System in Detroit proved fruitless, as no one had ever heard of a nameless brown eyed girl hanging around Detroit main train station. After being under custody of the Buchanans for six months, slowly adapting herself to the household, the nameless child was taken before the local judge and finally they've signed all papers that officially added Joy Buchanan to their clan.

However things weren't all peaceful in the household as they wished, as Hope and Grace still resented having the mute kid in the house, both girls engaging in a small smear campaign at school turning the young girl's life at school into a real torment.

Surprisingly, the person who really connected with the mute kid was Johnny who, despite his commitments with NROTC training, spent every single weekend he had off with the dark eyed child, explaining to her wide eyed surprise the adventures he had during his university time and during Marine training - with a lot of editing to her young ears. He later on commented that he was always amazed with the fact that, even though the kid could not verbally communicate, every single thought that ran through her little head could be easily be read through her face.

He would take her on the backseat of his motorbike, speeding down the highway out of Glasgow with her giggling against his back, with her skinny arms holding him tightly in a dead grip. He would also take her camping in Yellowstone Park frequently, showing her how to light a fire with only some twigs, how to follow tracks of deer in the woods or how not to leave tracks.

Joseph also was enjoying spending time with the little girl, who would sit silently before him as he practiced cello for hours. As he noticed her interest, he would offer her the chance of trying it on her own, so during one hour each week he would teach her how to hold the bow and how to softly glide the horsehair over the strings.

Soon the household could hear the first out of tune notes of _twinkle twinkle little_ _star_ echoing in the music room.

_Heaven is the place_  
_Where she calls my name_  
_Says, "daddy please come play with me for awhile"_

Mark and Luke were kind of indifferent to the new girl, as in Mark's words "at least she doesn't scream like a banshee as Hope does," which earned him a death glare from the blond girl. They've played around her, but didn't really add her to their GI Joe games as they were boy's games, not for girls.

So, whenever she wasn't watching Joseph or following Heidy around doing her chores, she would sit down with Matthew, and spend hours with the three year old, giving him tiny Lego pieces so he could build whatever his overactive imagination could come up with.

Heidy simply gave up trying to convince the little girl of not helping her in the kitchen, and she pointed out that the little girl still kept a little pantry of emergency food under her bed - fruits, biscuits and snacks - and when questioned about that she simply close up and simply glare at Joseph; he tried to explain that there was enough for all of them, that she didn't have to hoard. But she simply stared at him and kept doing her thing.

She would sleep during the afternoon after school, while the kids rushed to play outside, and would stay wide awake late into the night, as the kids would start falling asleep around her. During those late night hours, she would simply sit by Joseph's study, where he would sit with her reading some passage from the Bible for his sermon during the weekend, which she would listen attentively.

_God, I know, it's all of this and so much more_  
_But God, You know, that this is what I'm aching for God,_  
_You know, I just can't see beyond the door_

Sometimes, he would stop whatever he was doing, looking up from his paperwork for a second and see the little girl studying him with unblinking eyes. He would smile at her. She would smile at him. And he would stand up, walk to the radio and put a soft guitar song, and stretch his hand asking her to dance.

And as the world slept outside, and wind roared against the tree boughs around the house, he would hold her against his chest, her dark brown haired head laying against his chest as he would softly dance, singing softly along the lines of the song.

_So right now Heaven is the sound of her breathing deep_  
_Lying on my chest, falling fast asleep while I sing_  
_And Heaven is the weight of her in my arms_  
_Being there to keep her safe from harm while she dreams_

Whenever Maggie found them sharing those moments together, she would watch them from the door threshold and once again feel astonished at her husband's deep ability of healing with love. She would remember how he took an arrogant general's daughter and took her stargazing, telling her the names of the constellations and of Greek gods, heroes and nymphs of a long gone past.

How he would look into her eyes and see her, Maggie, not only the General's daughter, who should be feared and respected. How he would hold her in his arms and tell her about how important family was to him, as his dad had taught him so, that there was nothing more important than family.

_And God, I know, it's all of this and so much more_  
_But God, You know, that this is what I'm longing for God,_  
_You know, I just can't see beyond the door_

And how he would whisper in her ear that his fondest wish was to create that family with her.

_But in my mind's eye I can see a place_  
_Where Your glory fills every empty space_  
_All the cancer is gone_  
_Every mouth is fed_  
_And there's no one left in the orphans' bed_  
_Every lonely heart finds their one true love_  
_And there's no more goodbye_  
_And no more not enough_  
_And there's no more enemy (no more)_

Maggie soon also had to request to work from home, reporting only once per month to the base as she soon found herself pregnant, again. Due to her age and the nature of her work, she was advised to cut back work hours, so she not only had the chance of witnessing the blossoming of such frail flower right before her eyes but she had the chance of participating of it as well. And, when Maggie really started to show, Joy would lay beside her in bed and lay her head over Maggie's tummy, trying to hear the baby inside._  
_

_Heaven is a sweet, maple syrup kiss_  
_And a thousand other little things I miss with her gone_  
_Heaven is the place where she takes my hand_  
_And leads me to You_  
_And we both run into Your arms_  
_Oh God, I know, it's so much more than I can dream_  
_It's far beyond anything I can conceive_  
_So God, You know, I'm trusting You until I see _

_Heaven in the face of my little girl_

And so the time went by...


	40. Heralds of battle

_**Chapter 40: Heralds of battle**_

_**May 1989**_

It was a beautiful a beautiful spring morning, and the gay sound of children filled the playground as they ran from one toy to the other, enjoying the crisp breeze blowing between the trees.

Maggie lifts her eyes from her advanced engineering book, rubs her four month pregnant tummy and smiles faintly as she sees her children playing: Hope is playing with her friends on the swings, while Joy is silently sitting with Matthew in the sand box, helping him fill his bucket.

Maggie, despite her initial uncertainty about the wisdom of taking in the mute girl, was each day more surprised with how she quietly wiggled her way into everyone's hearts.

She became a silent companion and protector for Matthew, following him around as he babbled about everything to her. Hope and Grace hadn't really warmed up to her, and Maggie was aware that there was still resentment between the girls for having to share some of their clothes or their bedroom with the young girl. So, Joseph and Faith reached an agreement, to let the little girl stay in Faith's room whenever the she wasn't in the house, and whenever the oldest Buchanan sibling came home Joy would sleep in the young girls' room.

John, ahh, her sweet boy was the one who finally broke the self imposed isolation the little girl would insist on keeping, and slowly coached her out of the attic - more specifically, from inside the laundry wardrobe – using a unique technique.

Peanut butter sandwiches.

He noticed how the little girl eyed his sandwich hungrily, so he literally prepared a _Hansel'n'Gretel_ style trail, with tiny peanut butter sandwiches leading from the attic towards the dinner table. It had been hilarious to watch the little girl following the breadcrumb trail, until she finally reached the dinner table.

Once in the kitchen facing the whole family with several sandwiches in her hand, Johnny didn't let her escape again to the attic, lifting her up and sitting her on one of the chairs on the table.

"If you want to eat your sandwiches, you have to sit with us at the table. No more sitting on the floor in the corner or hiding in the wardrobe upstairs," he chastised her.

As she started to munch her so hard earned prizes, Mark started laughing, pointing out that she was spreading peanut butter all over her face.

Of course, that soon became her nickname between the children.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Matthew was babbling about how amazing his castle was going to be, with towers and a huge door so his firetruck could park inside, while Joy was silently filling another bucket.

This job of being just a kid wasn't that hard. All she had to do was to keep the little boy away from harm, and ignore the hurtful comments the blond girls said to her, thus avoiding punishment from the masters.

Not masters, Joseph and Maggie.

Daddy and Mommy.

Joy smiles as she thinks about the sweet smelling man, and his beautiful doll like woman, who would hug and give kisses for no reason at all, just because. Maggie was always surrounded by books, but sometimes she would push them away and call the girls outside and play jump rope with them, jumping as enthusiastically as one of them.

Daddy would sit and read to her, his voice sounding from far away, until she could not hold her eyes open anymore and she would fall asleep in his arms.

Nah, it was definitely nice to be around these adults.

She looks around for the shovel Matthew has just used, and sees that the little boy has thrown it a few feet away in his enthusiasm to look inside the castle he has just built.

She stands up, slaps away the sand from her trousers and walks towards the shovel.

However, as soon as she leans forward to catch the tool she feels faint, as her nostrils are inundated with a scent she had mistakenly believed she would never feel again.

A reek of rotten flesh and sulphur mixed with sweat and all sorts of awful things drifts around her, and she gulps as she supports shaking hands on the floor, feeling fear and dread piling up in her heart.

She stands up slowly, afraid of fainting dead away, and looks around the playground, seeing all kids playing as if they have no care in the world, completely unaware of the danger they were all in.

She starts hyperventilating, looking around, trying to identify the source of the scent. The sky was completely blue, only few clouds were lazily gliding in the sky, however the day had lost a little of its beauty to her, as panic starts to settle in.

"You've felt it too, haven't you?"

She looks up, and sees Guilo, standing in an alert instance in front of her, looking around the playground. His piercing eyes study every shadow and tree around the playground but, for some reason, the source of danger was very well camouflaged, not even his battle honed senses could sense from where the attack would come.

"God, this is too soon." He looks at her, and sees her looking at him with big scared eyes. She had blossomed under the Buchanan's care, but still, "Listen, take your siblings, go to Maggie, and leave. I'll try to hold them off until you are safe, but you have to leave now."

Her eyes stared at him with fear, and he felt awful for frightening her so, but it was for her own safety, "Joy, you have to run. Now. I won't be able to hold them off for long on my own."

She nods, turns around and runs towards the sandbox where she left Matthew. She takes him by his arm, slaps the sand away from his hands, and starts dragging the squirming little boy towards the place where she had last seen Hope playing with her friends.

She finds her sitting under a tree with her bests friends, Mary Sue and Helen, two other beautiful little blond girls who loved to tease and say hurtful things to Joy.

"Here comes the freak," says Mary Sue, looking with scorn at the youngest addition to the Buchanan clan.

"Go away Joy, I don't want to play with you," says Hope, turning her back to the brunette girl. She is surprised though when the skinny girl grabs her wrist with a surprising force for someone so small, and forces her to stand in a fast move.

"What's wrong with you?" shouts Hope, noticing the wide eyed expression in Joy's eyes, who is looking around the playground as if she is terrified of something.

Joy, of course, doesn't respond, simply starts dragging the blond girl towards the bench where Maggie is.

"Joy, you're hurting me, let me go." Joy keeps ignoring Hope's struggles, dragging both Matthew and Hope despite their complaints and only stops when they are in front of Maggie, who looks at them surprised.

"Are you already finished?" Maggie looks at her watch and it's three forty still. She had promised that they could stay until four at the park.

"She's gone crazy, Maggie. She's just dragged me away from my friends, and she's hurt my wrist," Hope shows her wrist in Joy's tight squeeze, as the little girl was still holding it in firm grip, not letting it go despite Hope's attempts to get away.

Maggie closes her book and leans towards Joy, studying the little girl's face, which always was a clear indicator of what she is feeling. And right now, Joy's face can only be defined in one word: panic.

"What's wrong, sweety?" Maggie feels even more confused, as Joy shakes her head, and her eyes fill with tears, and she moves her mouth as if struggling to speak, and she becomes more and more disturbed.

"She's retarded, that's what's wrong. Now I'm going back to my friends," says Hope, getting her wrist out of Joy's hand, just to be stopped by Maggie's firm hand.

"Wait." Maggie frowns as she starts to feel the same unrest she sees in Joy.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Guilo runs and stands right behind Joy, and starts speaking very fast, "Joy, it's what I've feared, they are too many. You have to leave now. God, this is too soon, they weren't supposed to find you that soon." He then looks at Maggie, and says in an urgent manner, "Maggie, take the kids back home. They will be safe there. You have to leave, as I won't be able to hold them off for long. I can't protect all of you at once, you have to leave."

Maggie holds Hope's wrist, stopping the girl of escaping to play with her friends, but she still feels uncertain.

"MAGGIE, YOU HAVE TO LEAVE NOW," Guilo shouts, turning around and drawing his sword, feeling the incoming attack as it approaches them.

"Okay," she mutters and stands up, stuffs her book inside her bag and takes Matthew in her arms, "Kids, we're leaving."

"But you promised we could stay until four, it's not four," moans Hope, looking forlornly at her friends still sitting under the tree.

"Well, I've changed my mind," Maggie hurries her step, noticing that Joy ran ahead, reaching the car and waiting for her beside the door. The little girl was still looking around, alert to any unseen danger.

"But I don't want to go. You can't change your mind. You've promised."

Maggie opens the car door and deposits Matthew in his carseat, then turns to Hope and says in the little girl's face, "I'll change my mind whenever I feel like it. And right now, enter the car. That's an order."

The two girls enter the car, Maggie buckles their seatbelts and runs to the driving seat, throwing her bag on the passenger seat. She starts the car, and as she looks on the rearview mirror she notices Joy looking behind at the playground, as if searching for something.

The sense of dread becomes even stronger, so Maggie maneuvers the car out of the parking space, and can't wait to reach the security of her home.

But she's taken by surprise when Joy lets out a desperate shout, sounding like a wounded wild animal, hitting the window in despair at something outside.

"What the hell is wrong with you, freak?" asks Hope, but Joy keeps shouting, now her skinny body being shaken with sobs, as she sits back on the backseat and covers her ears with her small hands, swinging to and fro.

"Honey?" Maggie is torn between the need to drive home as fast as possible, and the desire to stop the car and console the crying girl.

However, as the little girl lifts her teary face to look at Maggie, she could almost swear she hears clearly in her head an order.

"MAGGIE, GO HOME!"

She obeys, and drives as fast as possible, within the limits of the law, towards her home.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Thankfully, Maggie had not witnessed what Joy had, as a swarm of black decaying bodies swirled out of their hiding places and attacked Guilo, tackling the celestial warrior to the floor, despite his desperate attempts to fight them off.


	41. A crime is committed

**_Chapter 41: A crime is committed_**

Maggie has never been happier to see her home as that afternoon, as she parked the car in front of it. Joy had kept crying and whimpering the whole trip, her despair so deep that even Hope stopped teasing her. Matthew somehow sensed the sadness of his playmate, and he tried to console her running his little fingers in the crying girl's hair, saying in baby speak that all would be all right, daddy would fix it.

Joseph walks out of the porch when he hears the sound of the car in the front yard, and frowns when he sees Maggie running to the backseat to unbuckle the children.

As soon as she frees Joy, the little girl runs as a rocket towards the house door, leaving a confused Joseph looking at Maggie with Matthew in her arms, as Hope is sullenly being steered into the house by her hand.

"What's wrong?"

Maggie sighs, and rushes into the house, closing the door in a hurry and depositing Matthew in the floor.

"I hate you, I hate you all, I wish you had never adopted me!" shouts Hope at Maggie, her face red with fury.

Maggie's temper boils, and she points to the stairs, "well, Hope, sometimes I really wonder why I did that. Now go to your bedroom and stay there, you are grounded!"

Joseph takes a step back, looking at his wife with a weary face, noticing how she is shaking with nervous energy. He then frowns when he notices that Joy is going around the living room, closing all the window curtains, blocking the sight of the outer world.

"Care to explain to me what is going on?"

Maggie sighs, trying to calm herself, and takes Matthew to the living room sofa and deposits him there, then glancing at Joy with tired eyes as she notices that the girl, now that she had closed all curtains, is now sitting under the small writing table under one of the windows, swinging to and fro again, silently crying.

"She happened."

Joseph frowns, and looks at the crying girl, as Maggie explains, "Something spooked her in the playground, then she dragged Matthew and Hope to me and… Joseph, I swear, if she could speak, she would have begged me to leave that place as fast as possible."

"Any idea why she behaved like that?"

Maggie shakes her head, "I don't know what it was, but that's not all." Joseph looks at Maggie, who says with tears in her eyes, "whatever it was, I could feel it too. Almost like …" Joseph takes a step forward and takes his wife in his arms, who keeps trying to explain what she had felt, "something evil was crawling around, watching us. And whatever it was, she felt it first, and came to give me the warning."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Hope and Grace locked themselves in their bedroom, so they could moan about the injustice of not being allowed to play with their friends.

Mark simply shrugged when he was informed to come back home, and then ran to play with Luke with their toy soldiers. The two boys were soon settling up a huge army of little soldiers all over the music room floor, using one of the throw blankets to form mountains and valleys in the floor.

Matthew joined their play, even if it was just to mess up the carefully ordained lines of soldiers that Mark so carefully laid on the floor.

Joy, in turn, was curled up in Maggie's arms, as the Buchanan matriarch softly rubbed her back as they've stayed sitting in the big leather chair by the unlit fireplace.

She had calmed down a little, her shaking and sobs slowing down until only occasional sniffing could be heard. Joseph prepared a hot tea and gave it to Maggie, who sat straighter in the seat and started to sip it, under the careful watch of the brown eyed girl.

"Are you calmer now?"

Joy sniffs, and nods. She rubs her nose with a hand and closes her eyes, laying her cheek against Maggie's chest, listening to her heart beating in a calm rhythm.

"Care to explain what has just happened in the playground?"

Joy shakes her head, crunches her face and hides it in Maggie's chest, not giving any of the adults any chance of figuring out what is going on in her head.

Joseph sits in the sofa in front of Maggie, studying her as she is comforting the little girl, who is still whimpering lightly in fear. He is happy to see that the little girl is connecting with Maggie, despite their shaky start. The little girl had struggled with the idea of Joseph being close to Maggie, which resulted in some very uncomfortable moments and a very awkward conversation - Gosh, he had never imagined that he would have to explain sex to a nine year old, he was kind of hoping to wait until her teens - or maybe late teens - for it. But apparently, they have surmised that most of the interactions she had seen between a man and a woman had been... apparently... either violent or unpleasant, especially for the woman, so when the little girl had seen Joseph kissing Maggie for the first time she did something really awkward.

She attacked Joseph.

Only after sitting down with the little girl and having a really long conversation about how he felt about Maggie and how he would never hurt her, finally the little girl relaxed a little and let him get close to his wife again.

Still, for a couple of weeks, Joy would watch the interactions between Joseph and Maggie as hawk, just waiting to see if he would raise his hand against her. It never happened, so she relaxed and both parents started to breathe more freely.

By then, in their efforts to teach Joy how a man should properly treat a woman like a lady, Joseph got Maggie pregnant. Again. Considering her age - Maggie was already forty one, therefore, it would be a complicated pregnancy - she was forced to cut back hours and now stayed three weeks at home, reporting only for a couple of days back at the base.

Thank God for these new computer things.

And here they are, one year after having adopted the mute kid, in the living room of the house, waiting for the little girl's panic attack to pass. Joseph sighs out loud, but before he says anything the telephone rings.

He excuses himself and goes to the phone, "Buchanan's residence." He glances at Maggie, who notices him getting surprised at who was calling him.

"Who is it?"

Joseph mouths, _Sheriff Claybourn, _then keeps talking on the phone, "Really? When did it happen?" He frowns at whatever info he is getting from the Sheriff, and nods, his fingers playing with the telephone cord. "How is she taking the news?" More conversation the other side. "Listen, I can be there in ten minutes, I'll help you in whatever capacity I can. Just let me settle things here with Maggie and I'll be on my way."

He disconnects, and walks slowly towards Maggie, his face in deep thought.

"What's wrong?"

Joseph doesn't answers, but keeps staring at the little girl whose face is still hiding between Maggie's breasts.

"Something happened in the playground today."

"What?" Maggie can't hide her surprise, and she struggles to hold on to the little girl, who squirms in Maggie's lap and looks up at Joseph, her tortured eyes fixed at him.

Joseph kneels before the little girl, who is whimpering and crying, "A crime was committed at the playground today, but somehow you knew that already, didn't you."

Joy lifts one hand and wipes her face, rubbing one red eye and nods.

"What's going on, Joseph?"

"Jonah Gordon has just been abducted from the playground. His mother reported him missing just half an hour ago, after looking for him with the help of other parents who also were in the playground for over an hour."

Maggie's mouth is a perfect oh, which she covers with a trembling hand imagining the horror that mother is feeling right now. "Joseph, if he was taken then it was..."

"At the same time and hour you were there," he frowns, looking at the little girl who is looking at him with tired eyes, "and basically at the same time Joy freaked out and forced you to return home."


	42. A new player enters the game

_**Chapter 42: A new player enters the game**_

"Come on, pack your bags, we're leaving," says a man with dark hair and dark brown eyes for the young agent who looks up from the reports he's reading half heartedly.

"Where are we going? Do we have any new clue of where the kids might be?" asks SSA Vincent D'Amadeo, who has been working with that junior agent for one year, and he was still struggling to grasp the fast thinking of the rising star of the Bureau.

Special Agent Jason Gideon rushes to the table, and starts to pack the casefiles in an unorganized manner inside their folders, in preparation for their fast departure. "No, no new clue. But he struck again. This time in Glasgow, Montana. We're leaving in five."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The two FBI agents arrive in the tiny rural town by eleven pm, and they are relieved to see the local Sheriff waiting for them as soon as they get out of the chartered Bureau airplane.

They shake hands, do the proper introductions, and inform the local LEO that they would like to meet with the family, before getting settled in the tiny bed and breakfast run by Lila, one of the widows from the prayer group which the mother of the missing kid was part of.

"Agent Gideon, right now the parents are at their house, I've left one of my deputies and the local reverend with them."

"Is it wise to involve a man of cloth in this? We're investigating a kidnapping case which might be connected to several murder cases in three different states. I'm uncomfortable of mixing religion with a murder investigation," says D'Amadeo, a self proclaimed atheist, receiving an aggrieved look from Gideon, who is irritated that the senior agent is already alienating the locals, but he's surprised when Sheriff Claybourn simply chuckles.

"I don't know what type of church people you are used to dealing with, but Reverend Buchanan is nothing alike anyone you've ever met. He was a colonel at the Air Force before his bird took a dive and he almost died in the crash. It permanently clipped his wings and since then he, who already was helping the Chaplain in his command, decided to take the job of the church more seriously. His wife, though, is still Air Force, and she's the scariest person you'll ever find alive. A legend among her peers, she rules with a tight fist over a house full of children and the good Reverend. Besides, the Reverend has, thanks to his years in command of his unit, more experience in dealing with traumatic situations than my two deputies put together." Clay shakes his head, then corrects himself, "hell, considering his black ops years, he probably has more experience than me and my deputies put together."

"What can you tell us about this specific kidnapping?" Gideon hops in the pickup truck with the senior agent and the sheriff, and tries to turn the focus of the conversation back to the case.

Clay turns the key in the ignition, sighing loudly, before starting to drive the pickup, "the kid was taken from a playground in the middle of the town, a little bit before four pm, in plain daylight. There were several families with other children there, and the parents helped to form a small search group which, unfortunately, didn't find anything. That's when they contacted me, and as I had already received your communiqué about the kidnappings in the other states... well, all I've had to do was make a phone call, and here you are."

Clay stops the car in front a nice blue house with white trimmings in the windows and doors, with a rocking chair hanging on the porch. "We're here."

"Already?" D'Amadeo studies the house, and it's hard to imagine the pain the family is going through right now.

"Small town in rural America, sir."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

They enter a nice house, with bright orange walls in the entry hall making a sharp contrast with some modern paintings in nice frames. Apparently, Mrs. Gordon was an artist, who sold some of her artwork in Billings and gave art classes every two weeks at the University in the capital. Mr. Gordon had a nice house on the edge of town, and he had a nice piece of land where he planted barley or wheat alternately which he sold to a beer plant a couple of miles away.

They find a woman in her late thirties crying silently hugging a yellow jumper, which probably belongs to the missing boy. Sitting by her side is a man in his early forties, in his jeans and plaid shirt. His big hands are holding a wooden firetruck, probably handmade, painted in red, yellow and green, his face the perfect definition of despair.

Probably the parents, Gideon thinks, looking around the living room and absorbing the details in a single glance. The simple, sturdy but nicely designed wooden furniture, probably made by the same hands who created the wooden toy. The house is clean, as mismatched colorful throwaways and cushions in Native American style gave it a lived in look, the colors clashing in a pleasant way, a silent testimony of the mother's artistic taste.

He notices a man in a deputy's uniform standing in the corner of the living room, and the Sheriff nods to him as soon as he enters the room, receiving a salute in return.

"Steven, Jessica, these are the Federal Agents who are investigating the kidnappings of children in the state. They believe it's the same guy who is doing this, so I need you to talk to him so we can find Jonah," Clay says as he approaches the distraught parents, noticing that they are calmer than before, or simply tired of the emotional upheaval they had earlier that afternoon.

Steven Gordon, a simple man who earned his bread with the work of his hands on the land and his greatest pleasure was playing with his son, showing him how to create things with wood, lift his eyes and studies the strangers who are looking at him.

"Are you going to find my boy, mister?"

Gideon stares into the father's desperate eyes, and feels the weight of the responsibility on his shoulders, "I'll do my best. We won't rest until we find answers."

That answer seems to calm the father, who glances at his wife before standing up, "We'll cooperate in everything you ask of us, sir. Just bring our boy back." He walks around the sofa, squeezing his wife's shoulder for a second, eliciting a sob from her, before leaving the room towards the kitchen.

A tall man in his early forties, in jeans, moss green turtleneck and a black leather jacket comes out of the kitchen carrying a tray with several mugs with fragrant tea on it. He looks at Clay, studies for a second the two strangers in the living room before saluting them with a nod, taking the tray to the small center table. Once he's sitting, he turns to the grieving mother and offers one cup of tea, patiently waiting for her to pick it from his hands.

"Hey, Jess, this is oolong tea, it will help you calm down and sleep later." The woman takes it after laying the jacket in her lap reverently, and starts sipping it slowly, and then takes a cup of tea for the sheriff, who takes it gladly from his hands, "Hey Clay."

"Hi, Reverend, these are Agents D'Amadeo and Gideon from the FBI. They are investigating the kidnappings I've told you about." The Reverend wipes his hands in his jeans before offering his hand for the agents, shaking their hands with a firm grip, looking them in the eyes in a searching way.

"Nice to meet you gentlemen, now," he bites his lower lip, before sending a glance to the tired mother still hugging the little boy's jacket. "If you need me for anything, I'm just a phone call away. I have a house full of children that I also have to look after and," he glances at Clay, leaning towards him and lowering his voice so she might not be able to hear him, "I've added some medicine in her tea, she will probably fall asleep in about an hour. So if you two need to ask anything, now would be a good time, before it starts affecting her."

Clay smiles, "Thanks, Reverend. We'll drop by tomorrow morning to get your family's statements."

Gideon's attention is peaked, and he notices the other man fidgeting uncomfortably as he glances from the Sheriff to the grieving mother, "Is that really necessary?"

"Depends. Where were they at the moment of the kidnapping?" Gideon studies the reverend, who looks him with a little frown.

"My wife was at the playground at the same time Jonah was taken, and one of my kids reacted in a strange way. She might have seen something worth noticing."

The two agents look at each other, then at the woman, "Gideon, you go with the Reverend and take their statement right away, I'll talk with Mrs. Gordon and see what we can find."

Joseph frowns, before glancing at the sheriff, "But it's late, my wife and kids are probably already asleep."

"Sir," Gideon approaches the reverend, "statistically, the chance of a happy ending in child kidnappings decreases exponentially after the first twenty four hours. Every minute counts. So I'm afraid we will have to wake up your family and take their statements."

Joseph sighs out loud, and points to the door, "Come along, I hope you enjoy hibiscus tea, that's all Maggie is craving now that she's pregnant."


	43. Gideon meets Maggie Buchanan

_**Chapter 43: Gideon meets Maggie Buchanan**_

The drive was made in an uncomfortable silence, as they went through the empty streets of the sleeping town for a few minutes. Apparently, the reverend lived in the last house in the exit of the city, taking one of South Avenues all the way to the end, and making a small curve before the bridge, following the river to the right, in a small lane which ended in a very nice sturdy two story house, surrounded by majestic trees which were starting to show the first leaves of spring.

It was a moonless night, the sky was a dark pallet of tiny dots watching down the humans now in the car slowly rolling to a stop in the gravel before the house.

Gideon has respected the silence of the reverend, but he has noticed the man becoming tenser as they approached the house. Joseph lightly taps his thumbs on the steering wheel, before looking up at the slumbering house and turning the engine off. He looks at the FBI agent who is studying him with attentive eyes, not missing anything from his posture, and Joseph feels like he's before one of those mandatory idiotic shrinks he was supposed to open his heart to after going on a black op which had gone completely wrong.

"We have to talk first. Before you get in." Gideon turns to look better at Joseph, and the elder Buchanan lifts his eyes to the first floor, where the kids are asleep, "There are some things you have to know in order to," Joseph pauses, trying to figure out how to explain, "better understand my family."

"My wife is pregnant, but when she's not in that condition she is a highly requested weapons engineer for the USAF. That's where I met her, more than twenty years ago, but I had to retire three years ago because of this," he touches lightly his knee, which gives him a permanent limp.

"I've busted myself when I crashed, so the Air Force kindly offered me either a desk job or early retirement. I took retirement. Since then, we've adopted two girls whose parents were under my command. They died over two years ago and the girls are still..." Joseph exhales loudly, contemplating his house and thinking about its inhabitants, "difficult. They are happy we've adopted them, but unhappy because we've adopted them, if you get my meaning."

Gideon smiles, seeing that the Reverend is just concerned about how unorthodox his family might seem to an outsider, "Don't worry reverend. I'll just take their statements and leave," Gideon opens the door, getting ready to leave, just to be interrupted by Joseph's voice.

"I'm not done yet, Agent Gideon," Gideon stops before he leaves the car, then closes the door again, turning to look at the worried eyes of the reverend. He sees a turmoil that worries him, "in 1987, during Christmas time, I also took a small child into custody. She was a street child, and six months later I've legally adopted her. She is... "Joseph closes his eyes and leans his head against the headrest, sighing deeply, "she is special in so many ways. She is mute, as far as we know for no apparent reason, as the doctors told us that there's nothing wrong with her, at least not physically. She was abused - terribly abused - and she bears the marks of said abuse on her tiny frail body."

Gideon frowns as he hears that, and he notices Joseph turning to look the profiler, "she also tends to react strangely towards things out of her normal routine, so don't be surprised if she seems … not your normal nine year old kid."

"Have you already taken her to a psychiatrist?"

Joseph chuckles lightly, shaking his head, "you have to see her to understand, I don't think a psychiatrist would do much good."

With those strange parting words, Gideon gets out of the car, ready to follow the reverend, who waves at him, "Bring your bag, you can crash in my oldest boy's bedroom, no reason to drive back into town."

Both men enter the house, being careful not to make too much noise. They cross the entry hall and enter an ample living room, with comfortable sofas spread out in a U formation in front of a massive fireplace, a leather seat by the fireplace and several toys spread out in several corners in the floor. Joseph takes his jacket off, hangs it beside a red woman's jacket by the door and rubs his face, letting his exhaustion show, "Do we really have to do that now? I'm exhausted, and I'm sure so are you."

"Well, if you are willing to let me sleep here, and take their statements first thing i-"

"Joseph, who is this?" comes a voice from upstairs, and soon a beautiful brunette with dark black hair, pale skin and beautiful violet eyes starts climbing down the stairs to investigate who is this stranger her husband brought home.

"This is Special Agent Jason Gideon, Maggie. He's here to take your statements and the kids about what has happened today in the playground. He's FBI."

Gideon feels himself scrutinized by intelligent violet eyes, which measure him up and down, at the same time that one fluttering hand goes automatically to protect the fragile life in her womb. By the size of the baby bump, Gideon guesses that she's between four to five months.

"Ma'am, I have no wish to disturb you or your family, I would like just to take your statement and, tomorrow morning, I would like to talk to your children who were at the playground." The young mother immediately gets tense, glancing at Joseph with a glare, before marching towards the kitchen, which Gideon finally sees as she walks towards the end of the living room.

"You might take my statement, but you'd better keep my children away from your investigation. They've been hurt enough."

Gideon folds his arms, staring at the Buchanan's matriarch's back, as she marches out of the living room. He glances at Joseph, who is rubbing his neck in a clear show of tension. When their eyes meet, Joseph's clearly transmit a message, _Well, I've told you so._

"Come Agent Gideon, I'll make you cup of hibiscus tea and you will take my statement, then bed. My little girl here needs her beauty sleep." Maggie says in an authoritarian voice, rubbing her belly.


	44. Gideon's interview with Maggie

_**Chapter 44: Gideon's interview with Maggie**_

After a phone call to the sheriff, informing him that Gideon would be sleeping at the Buchanan's, the three adults sit around the kitchen table waiting for the water to boil, as Gideon takes his time to study the indomitable Maggie Buchanan, who was everything and more he had been told. Gideon smiles as Joseph rushes to pour tea for his pregnant wife, giving her the sugar even before she asks for it, all she has to do is lift her hand and he is ready with it in his hands.

He smiles behind his cup of tea at their interactions, and he sees a couple deeply devoted to each other who, despite the trials and tribulations of life, had decided to partake the path of their lives together, and cherished every moment of it.

Joseph notices the smile in the agent's face, and shrugs, glancing lightly at Maggie's back before mouthing '_She's pregnant'_, as if that was his explanation for his actions. However, Gideon has the impression that, regardless of his wife's condition, pregnant or not, the reverend would always be a dedicated servant to her wishes.

"What do you want to know, Agent Gideon?"

Gideon smiles, "Straight to point? I like that." He sips his tea and puts the cup aside, leaning towards her and studying the beautiful woman before him, "Tell me what you saw at the playground."

She glances briefly at her husband, silently asking his guidance in this and he silently nods, giving his permission to reveal what she knows.

"I personally didn't see anything. I was reading a book while the kids were playing: Hope, one of the sisters we adopted, was playing with her school friends in the swings while Matthew was playing in the sandbox with Joy."

"She's the last girl we adopted." Joseph clarifies, and Gideon nods, silently asking Maggie to proceed.

"A little bit after half past three Joy runs towards me, dragging Matthew and Hope by their wrists, practically begging me to leave. She was so scared..." Maggie's eyes fill with tears as she remembers how the little girl cried in the car, "no, she wasn't scared, she was terrified." Gideon frowns at that, as there were no reports of witnesses in the other kidnapping cases... what if... "but the strange thing is that, whatever she felt, after a few moments, I started to feel too."

"Please elaborate on that," says Gideon, looking at the pregnant lady before him and studying her little reactions, as she rubbed her pregnant belly with one hand, her eyes filling with tears as she remembered what had happened that afternoon, and how one of her hands fluttered nervously holding her cup of tea. Whatever has happened, it had really rattled her nerves.

"At first, there was nothing different. The children were still playing and laughing and there was even a whisper of breeze in the trees," she glances at Joseph, who is sitting beside her, and tenses as he feels her eyes on him, "but then came the stench."

Gideon frowns, as that was a first, "Stench?"

"Yes, out of nowhere it was like the sun was blocked by a dark heavy cloud, and my nose was filled with most god awful smell I've ever felt, as if something had died and nobody bothered to bury it. As the seconds went by I've noticed that Joy became even more terrified, and she was making _me_ terrified, so I simply took the kids and left."

"When she got home," Joseph interrupts Maggie's narrative, "Joy went around the living room closing all curtains, blocking the light and hid under the writing table over there," he points vaguely to a wooden writing desk in the living room, with some papers and a small glass vase on it. "It took us several minutes to coach her out from under it, and more than an hour until she finally stopped crying."

"Did you ask her what scared her so?"

Both Joseph and Maggie grimace at his question, and he remembers what he's been told in the car, "ah... she's mute. Forgive me, I've forgotten." He sighs, his forehead creased in a frown as he tries to figure out how to question a mute witness. "Where is she now?"

"Asleep upstairs, she finally drifted off half an hour ago." Maggie finishes her tea, and glances at Joseph, "and I also should go, it's past my bedtime. She was still scared, and would wake up every couple of minutes whimpering, and I had to soothe her until she fell asleep again. I'm exhausted, so I'm going to bed," she stands up, looks at Gideon, "feel free to take Johnny's bedroom; he's my oldest and attending his NROC training. Goodnight." She takes the cup towards the sink, rinses it and leaves in silent steps, keeping a supporting hand against the wall until she reaches the stairs and slowly climbs them under the careful eyes of her husband and the FBI agent.

Gideon finally turns his eyes to the Reverend, who keeps staring at the stairs with a pensive expression, "She's a remarkable woman."

"You have no idea," mutters Joseph, turning to look at Gideon, before standing up and collecting the empty cups from the table, "come on, I'll show you your room."


	45. Gideon meets the other Buchanans

**_Gideon meets the other Buchanans_**

Gideon wakes up the following morning to the sound of running feet in the corridor, and a door violently being shut. He opens his eyes and he frowns as he looks at the NBA poster glued just a few inches from his face. He finally remembers where he is, and looks around the room of the oldest Buchanan child.

As far as he can see, Johnny is a young boy with a healthy interest in music and sports - if the guitar handing from a hook on the wall and a shelf with several sports awards are any hint.

Besides that, he also appears to have a healthy interest in sciences, as the several chemistry and biology books carefully organized on shelves by his writing table are silent witnesses to that.

He sits on the bed, and after a few moments contemplating the room, he smiles and runs his hand under the mattress, and he chuckles as he hits jackpot, as he digs out some magazines from under it. He is however surprised when he sees that the magazines, instead of the usual porn a teenager hides under his bed mattress, are all old comic magazines or some highly specialized chemistry magazines. He frowns as he starts to see the fliers hid inside the magazine.

_How to defuse bombs._

_How to identify live wires in complex devices. _

_How to defuse improvised explosive devices (IED)_

_EOD elite squads, what you need to know._

Along with those, several pictures of Marine booth camps all over the country and also some photographs of a handsome young man, with Joseph's features and Maggie's violet eyes, during intense exercise in a booth camp somewhere.

"He's going to be a hell of a marine," Gideon mutters, before hiding the magazines back under the mattress. Another door shuts down the corridor, and he sighs, getting ready for another day at work.

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Gideon slowly goes down the stairs, following the noise of children laughing and voices coming from the kitchen. Once in the living room, he's almost run down by a little boy with beautiful blue eyes, dark hair and rosy cheeks, who is running and squealing until he hits Gideon's legs and immediately grabs his trousers, hiding his face against the cloth in fear as an older boy runs after him making growling noises.

"MARK BUCHANAN! Stop frightening your little brother!" shouts Maggie from the kitchen, following the kids in a more sedate pace. She glances up and smiles tensely at the FBI agent, who waves her out and grabs the little boy, detaching him from his legs and instinctively protecting him from the oldest boy.

"Mom, I'm the monster under the bed, he must run away from me!" Mark turns again to the little boy and growls, and the toddler throws his arms around the agent's neck and hides his face, shaking in fear of the older boy.

Gideon chuckles, and finally Matthew notices that he's not in Daddy's arms, and leans back to look at the stranger, brown eyes facing blue eyes for a moment, before Matthew's face crunches and he opens his mouth in a loud cry, shouting his displeasure to the world to hear.

"Matthew, sweetie, that's no reason to wake up the whole house," says a buxom blond woman coming down the stairs, followed by two beautiful blue eyed blond girls, impeccably dressed in jeans and matching pink tops. As soon she is close to Gideon, she takes the crying boy from his arms, smiles at him and marches into the kitchen, not giving him a second glance, while he stands there frozen being scrutinized by identical pairs of blue eyes.

"Who are you?" the older girl squints at him, studying him up and down, while the youngest girl folds her arms and approaches him, one delicate eyebrow high.

"This is Special Agent Jason Gideon; he's here to talk to Maggie, you and Joy about the playground incident yesterday. He's FBI." Joseph walks out of a door, which Gideon assumes is his study, and soon puts one hand over each blonds' shoulders, steering them to the kitchen, "now rush to the kitchen, breakfast then, after a short talk with him, I'm driving you to school."

Grace looks haughtily at Joseph, still resentful of being kept inside the previous afternoon, then leaves the living room towards the kitchen in hard steps. Meanwhile, the youngest blond studies him up and down, and apparently he doesn't pass muster to her inspection, "you don't look like an FBI agent. You look like a door-to-door book seller."

"HOPE," growls Joseph, looking up at the ceiling and rolling his eyes, "breakfast, now!"

The young girl smirks and runs to the kitchen, taking her place in the big family table, the sound of plates and cups filling the morning air. Joseph looks chagrined to the FBI agent, who is chuckling at her spunk.

"How many are there?" Gideon observes Joseph rubbing a hand against his tired face, where dark circles could clearly been seen, result of an almost sleepless night.

"With the one Maggie's carrying around, it will be nine."

"Nine?"

Joseph grimaces, and indicates with his head that Gideon should follow him, "My two eldest kids are already at University, then there is a ten year difference between Faith and Mark. Two years later we adopted Luke, then surprise, Matthew came along… the girls were adopted a few months after my crash and then…" He looks around, not finding his latest addiction, "Maggie, where's Joy?"


	46. Gideon meets Joy Buchanan

_**Chapter 46: Gideon meets Joy Buchanan**_

Maggie looks up from where she is combing Luke's unruly hair and looks to a point behind the two adults, who turn around and find a little girl in blue jeans and a bright orange t-shirt standing by the end of the stairs. Her long curly hair framed a doll like face, with deep dark brown eyes which were currently at Gideon, staring at him fixedly.

Gideon studies the girl with the same intensity she studies him, and he sees a beautiful little girl with olive skin and beautiful dark eyes, who glances briefly at Joseph before drifting over him, then fixes her gaze at some point over his shoulder. Her action elicits a loud sigh from Joseph, which attracts a glance from Gideon, "She had stopped doing that."

Gideon frowns, "doing what?"

"Zoning out," Joseph says as he walks towards the little girl and lowers to his knees before her. Her eyes don't leave their glazed expression though, "Joy, I have someone here who really wants to talk to you."

She nods, and lifts her hand so Joseph can take it in his, as he guides her to the sofa. Gideon frowns as he notices how the girl doesn't glance at Joseph, but follows him docilely to the sofa and sits down, never taking her eyes from the point above his shoulders.

Gideon sits before the girl, and her gaze follows him, but doesn't fix on his face, drifting somewhere to the left.

"Joy, my name is Jason Gideon, and I'm here to talk to you. Do you think we could chat for a while?"

The little girl squeezes Joseph's hand, and nods slowly.

"Good." Gideon glances back to the kitchen, as the kids start to stand up and Maggie and the Nanny help them put their coats on. After some grumbling, Maggie glances up and her eyes meet Gideon's. He nods, indicating that he will talk with the other girl later; Maggie sighs and herds the other kids out of the kitchen, ready for another day at school.

Soon the house quiets down, only the two adults and the little girl stay behind. Gideon looks again at Joy, before glancing at Joseph's desolate expression as he looks down at the little girl, as he lifts one hand and plays with her hair, putting one unruly curl behind her little ear.

"Your father told me that something scared you yesterday at the playground. Something bad happened there, and I need help so I can sort it out and help a little boy, who is really scared because he is away from his mommy. Do you think you can help me?"

Her eyes move from the point over his shoulder to him, and Gideon is taken aback at the deep sadness swimming in there. "You were with your mommy, Matthew and Hope at the playground. You were playing with Matthew, am I correct?"

She looks away again and nods.

"The wind was blowing and it was warm, wasn't it?"

Another nod. This time, however, Gideon notices that she starts shaking.

"Do you remember the sound of the kids playing? Were there shouts and laughter?"

Besides shaking, now she is swinging to and fro, and Joseph is frowning at Gideon, as he doesn't seem to be helping. However, again, the little girl nods.

"But something's changed. Something…" he frowns as the girls swinging increases speed, and Joseph shakes his head signaling to stop the interview, and gathers the little girl in his arms, who immediately starts crying and whimpering.

"I'm sorry, but I think we'd better stop."

Gideon frowns and stands up, giving privacy for the Reverend to calm down the crying little girl, clinging to his neck and sobbing.

He goes to the kitchen and stays there for a few minutes, sipping a hot cup of coffee and watching the majestic Douglas-fir trees surrounding the backyard moving with a soft breeze, as he waits for the reverend to finish calming the little girl. Several minutes later, Joseph comes into the kitchen and pours a glass of coffee for himself.

"I'm sorry she wasn't… helpful" He glances back and sighs, attracting Gideon's eyes. The little girl is now sitting on the floor, all her attention on several blank sheets of paper before her on the center table. She would frown and draw another detail in her paper, her fingers squeezing the pencils in a dead grip, as she draws completely focused at the task before her.

"It's okay. We'll follow other leads. But it would have been great to have an eyewitness."

"Care to share your thoughts? Has this … monster attacked before? Is that the reason why the Bureau is involved?"

Gideon shakes his head, "I'm not in liberty to discuss the case. I'm sorry."

"Okay," Joseph smiles down at Joy, who left the living room and silently approaches the FBI agent, her eyes still fixed over his shoulder. In her hands she has a drawing in a folded sheet of paper, which she promptly gives to Gideon.

"For me?"

The little girl nods, and Gideon smiles, kneeling by her side and observing how her eyes keep staring to the side, "Thank you for the gift, I'll cherish it." He looks down and starts unfolding the paper, just to feel a shiver running up his spine. He glances up startled at the little girl's face, whose eyes finally lower and make contact with his, filling with tears as she looks into his eyes for a full minute, before lifting to stare at the point over his shoulder again.

"Oh God," Gideon's soft words attract Joseph's attention, who approaches and leans over Gideon's shoulders to better see the drawing.

He is horrified in turn, "What's that?" He looks surprised at the little girl, who is crying silently again, her arms hugging herself.

"I think we have a problem," Gideon approaches the little girl on his knees, and takes her by her shoulders, "Joy, is that what you saw yesterday?"

He points to the drawing and she blinks, fat tears rolling down her cheeks and nods, looks at Gideon and growls, trying to imitates a roaring animal, her little fingers like claws, as she mimics the monster she's drawn in the sheet of paper in Gideon's hands.

Gideon silently hands the drawing to Joseph, who stares at it wide-eyed, as he sees a very accurate rendering of the playground, down to the trees and the kids scattered in the different toys. Maggie's sitting on a bench with a book, while three little kids - he can clearly identify them as Joy, Hope and Matthew - are standing in front of her.

But what really chilled him was the image of a demon like creature hovering over the playground, with dark leathery wings and blood dripping from its fangs. In one of its hands it held several severed kids heads, each face carefully detailed in the drawing. And the other was out stretched, the claws closing over the representation of Jonah Gordon in the picture.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Joseph cuddles the little girl in his lap, who finally has stopped crying and now is just rubbing her face in his shirt while Gideon speaks on the phone with his partner. He disconnects and returns to the living room, looking at the tender picture the two of them made, unwilling to interrupt them for a while.

"Reverend, may I have a word?" Joseph lifts red rimmed eyes to the FBI agent, sighs and after a few soft words, deposits the little girl on the sofa, wrapping her in one of the throw blanket of the sofa before standing up to talk to him. Once they are out of her hearing, "I would like to take her to the precinct and spend more time with her. Maybe I can coach more information from her."

"No," Joseph says after a few moments of contemplation, lifting resolute eyes to glare at the FBI agent, "she's a very scared little girl right now. She's been through hell. And I won't let you expose to her to God knows what just to… test a theory of yours."

"Reverend Buchanan, I—"

"Joseph, please."

"Joseph," Gideon approaches him and lowers his voice, "Your daughter has a rare gift, Mr. Buchanan. She can see people." Joseph shakes his head in denial, but Gideon insists, "She can see _through_ people. Very few people are ever given a glimpse of that and even fewer can look into it and still remain sane. Just because you are willing to deny the existence of her gift it won't make it disappear."

"No," Joseph closes his eyes, and keeps shaking his head, "I won't torture her like that. She's been through enough suffering to be used as one of your experiments."

"But –"

_"Hunter," _a tiny soft voice is heard, and both adults freeze, slowly turning to look at the little girl, who had stood up and was standing three feet away from them, her eyes again fixed over Gideon's shoulders.

Joseph slowly walks to her, kneeling before her and looking at her face, searching her face, which is still expressionless, "Joy, did you say anything?"

"I was under the impression she didn't-"

Joy's gaze flutters over Gideon, before fixing again over his shoulder, _"You are a hunter. You hunt monsters."_

Gideon glances briefly at Joseph before he also kneels before the little girl, "I'm a police officer. I hunt criminals. They're human."

She leans her head to the right, shaking it lightly, _"They're not human anymore. Not totally. The masters took over."_

"Masters?" Joseph asks, and the little girl nods, then points to the drawing lying on the kitchen table.

_"The masters are restless when they seek blood for their sacrifice. That's why you have to warn them."_

Gideon is becoming more and more confused, trying to follow the little girl's message, "Warn who?"

_"The warriors. They must come before it's too late. You have to contact the Commander."_

"What warriors?" Joseph is struggling to understand, but yet, "Sweety," she turns to look at him, "Who are the warriors?"

She blinks and looks over Joseph's shoulder, her gaze flittering before moving over Gideon's shoulders._ "Them,"_ she lifts a skinny hand and points somewhere over his shoulder.

"Can you describe them for me?" Gideon asks softly, and both he and Joseph feel a shiver running up their spines at her description.

_"They are like us when they aren't fighting, but when it's time for war they change. They have big swords and they fly very fast with their big big wings."_ She looks at Joseph, _"Not everybody can see them, but they're always around. And …"_ she sniffs, _"the monster hurt Guilo, and we had to leave him behind, because he told me to run from the playground."_

"Joy," Joseph's voices cracks as he says her name.

She shakes her head, turning to Joseph and saying in between sobs,_ "Mommy wasn't hearing him, so he screamed at mommy, telling her that she had to leave, because he couldn't protect us all, so he stayed to hold them off."_ She sniffs, and rubs a hand against her nose to clean it, smearing her face with snot,_ "He's been with me for so long, and now he's dead because he had to protect me."_


	47. Spaceships and bad news

**_Chapter 47: Spaceships and bad news_**

**_Present day  
USS HAMMOND  
Somewhere in orbit_**

_"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." _Tony covers his mouth, and starts making sounds mimicking the theme song of the old Seventies show. He walks up to one of the windows overlooking the planet, while the doctor finishes checking Daniel and Cameron in the infirmary of the Hammond.

Ziva smirks at the antics of her teammate, while Jack walks up to DiNozzo, who keeps humming the theme song.

"You know, I've tried to suggest them to name our first ship Enterprise."

"No way."

"Way. I've even gone to the president at that time and defended my case."

"So, was the first human ship really named Enterprise?" Tony can barely hide his glee, while Gibbs just shakes his head as the doctor measures his pressure, sitting in one of the infirmary beds.

Jack sighs out loud, desolated, "No. It was named Prometheus."

Tony visibly deflates, "Why?"

"Because that was the codename of the Project," Sam enters the infirmary to check the progress of the checkup, and immediately grins at the banter between the General and the NCIS agent.

"But that's boring. That's a Greek tragedy. Who would like that?" Tony moans and folds his arms over the blue scrubs they were given to wear after they were scrubbed and checked out by the doctors.

"You see?" Jack points to Tony, wiggling his eyebrows, "Even he thinks that was boring."

"It was superior orders, sir."

"Ah…" Jack deflates visibly, thinking about the lost opportunity they've had. "Besides, it doesn't matter anymore."

Gibbs decides to join the conversation, "Why?"

Jack shrugs, "Prometheus was destroyed in combat."

"Ah…"

Jack then smirks, "But the nicest thing is that I've had a ship named in my honor."

Tony can barely hold his glee, "Really? Where is it?"

Jack's face falls a little, "It was destroyed too."

A nervous looking man with a permanent scowl on his face enters the infirmary, holding a laptop in his hand as he touches the screen muttering to himself, followed by a tall man with dark spiky hair and smiling eyes, "Sam, we gotta talk. We have a problem."

"Rodney, have you finished coordinating the rescue of the people in the lower levels with ground base?"

He looks around the people in the room, mentally ignoring them before plowing ahead, while his companion smiles and nods to everyone in there, to compensate the blunder of his friend, "Yes, we were able to transport everyone out down to sublevel thirty two, and now we are transporting the people we've been able to track their life signs on sublevel thirty three and thirty four, despite the increased radiation levels which are making a mess in our transport lock."

"But Maggie is on sublevel thirty seven, can't you simply beam her out like you did with us?" Tony asks before Ziva and Gibbs have the time to intervene.

The nervous looking man, who Colonel Carter identified as Rodney, rolls his eyes at Tony and glares at him, "well, that's where we have a problem, Sherlock."

"Rodney," growls the tall dark haired man, and the scowling man looks at him hurt, "What?"

"Be nice." The dark haired man glances at Ziva and smiles a thousand watt smile, which Ziva immediately reciprocates "Hi," before becoming more circumspect and reporting to the General, "as my dear friend here said, the radiation levels are messing up with the readings. We're not picking any life form bellow level thirty four."

"What?" Gibbs and Jack say at the same time, immediately looking at each other and then at the tall man, who receives a glare from the shorter one for having stolen his line.

"The radiation is totally distorting our readings. We've already had difficulty locking onto the people on level thirty three, and they had to be beamed immediately to a decontamination chamber in the field hospital to be treated for radiation poisoning," says Rodney.

"How are we getting Maggie from down there?" Ziva asks the question nobody knows how to answer, and everyone is suddenly silent, looking at each other with a total loss of words.

"We don't," says Rodney, hugging his laptop to his chest and rolling on the balls of his feet, "in such levels of radiation, as we're registering in the last sealed pocket of the base, she's already dead."

Jack is frozen for a moment, not breathing, feeling a deep pain in his chest at the thought of losing a friend of so many years, then glances at Sam, who looks at him with compassion, before he nods and looks at Gibbs, "Excuse me, I have to … uhm… talk to the girls."

He leaves the infirmary, leaving a group of shell shocked agents behind.


	48. Joy does what she does best

_**Chapter 48: Joy does what she does best**_

_**Nellis AF Base aka Area 51  
**_

Joy was staring again at the holographic rendering of the lower levels when the radio call came from the Hammond.

"Hey, Faith, Hope, Joy, are you in there?"

Joy glanced at Faith, who nodded and approached the radio dispatcher, leaving Joy to keep studying the holomap.

"Loud and clear, Jack. Is the Earth really as blue as in the pictures?"

"It's beautiful, Faith. Breathtaking," he mutters, staring through the windowpane to the planet bellow.

"Jack," Joy calls out, "we've coordinated with your people up there to locate and transport everyone from sublevels twenty one to thirty three. The Hammond is now just waiting for our ground doctors' okay to transport the last people from level thirty four."

"We're running out of space," says McGee, as he looks at the videos installed to monitor the improvised field hospital, "they've kept the less serious cases here to receive field treatment but those in more desperate situation were directly beamed for the Military Hospital by the Cheyenne Mountain. They are doing the proper decontamination procedures and containment over there."

He glances over his shoulder to Joy, who is staring at the holodeck fixedly, "Ah… once we… uhm… finish sublevel thirty four, we hopefully can start working on the next three levels, which are the last sealed pocket of the complex." He bites his lip as he notices her leaning toward the hologram, her mouth silently moving as if she's speaking, but no words come out.

"Ah, that's exactly what I have to talk to you, kids." Joy finally leaves her position by the holodeck, and approaches Faith who is squinting at the radio.

"Jack, what's wrong now?"

"We can't get a lock on any vital signs on the lower levels." Faith and Hope freeze, while Joy closes her eyes, as Jack breaks their heart in tiny little pieces, "the radiation is distorting the signal, and we can't get any readings. Ah… I'm sorry."

Faith covers her mouth with a hand, her expression shell shocked as she turns to glance at Joy, who is silently sitting there, with her eyes closed, her face crunched in a frown.

"Jack," Joy opens her eyes and sighs, "can you at least verify the integrity of the structure, to see if there are any pockets not as affected by radiation as the main lab?"

Jack frowns, considering the question. He glances at Sam and Rodney, who look at each other before walking towards one of the control tables, requesting a full diagnostic, "The radiation is too strong on sublevels 35 and 36 to have any accurate readings of any specific pocket, but we can verify the structure." Sam looks at an enhanced map of the structure bellow, "There is structure damage to the labs 35a and 35b in SL 35, the floor caved in; same thing can be found in SL36, where labs 36a, 36b and 36c right above of the original blast point are gone. The neighboring labs were also damaged, as far as we can see in our scans. The only area that doesn't show much structural damage is the right side of the complex, close to the airvents. We can't identify and fissure on the walls, but still, the radiation around them doesn't allow us to get any read from inside those rooms."

"According to our scans, the average REM counting in the areas affected by the blast is over 1 million mrem in gamma rays, that not counting alpha and beta rays, which is already considered a lethal dose incurring certain death to those exposed in a few weeks," says Rodney, looking at his own laptop.

"But we have to consider that it's a tribute to the base engineers that the highest levels of radiation have been contained in the last sealed pocket, not spreading out to the other sublevels thanks to the elaborate measures so keep each pocket independent of each other," says Sam, looking at Jack who is standing by the big windowpanes, staring at the planet below.

Joy turns her back to Faith, and returns to her previous position, staring at the holograph, "McGee, can you check if they still have the logs of the phone calls of the last hours? If they do, do you think you could retrieve the recording of my talk with mom?"

"Joy, don't torture yourself so," he looks worriedly at her, seeing her frowning deeply at the hologram.

"No, I'm not going to do that. I have a theory."

Gibbs approaches the radio, all the time looking at Jack's back, which tenses at the hopeful note on Joy's voice.

_"Buchanan, what theory?"_

"She wasn't in the lab, Boss."

_"Kid, there's no way—" _Jack starts speaking, just to be interrupted by Joy.

"Jack, just give me a chance to do my thing."

_"What are you going to do?"_

"I'm going to do what I'm best at. I'm going to profile mom." She says, sighing out loud as she again studies the holomap. She looks at McGee, who nods, indicating that he has the recording ready, "Play the tape."

NCIS NCIS NICS NCIS

_"Maggie speaking."_

_"__Mom, it's Joy."_

_"Hi honey, I'm very busy right now."_

_"__Mom, I know, but whatever you're doing you gotta stop it. And stop it right now."_

_"Joy, what are you talking about?"_

"Can you please lower the voices and leave only background," McGee adjusts the sound to what she's requested, and the voices dim and they can hear the sound of people rushing, typing. The rustling of papers. Blast doors being closed.

"_Mom?"_

_"Hang in there, kiddo."_

Footsteps are heard; the feminine shoes clicking on the floor, "increase the midtones," Joy murmurs, her eyes closed, and McGee does as she has requested.

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"_I want everybody out now. Do you have a head count?"_

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_"Well, you could review your findings and present them neatly in a report explaining why I should let you get in there again with a very dangerous power source, or if that's too much for you to do, you could twiddle your thumbs until the next staff meeting. What do you think of that?"_

_"I'm going to talk to the General,"_ then footsteps and the murmur of voices fill the line.

The clacking of the shoes is heard between the background noise of other people's voices.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Faith, Hope and McGee stare at Joy as she glides a pen over the hologram following Maggie's steps, mentally counting each one.

_"Kiddo, I'm looking for a more private place here, just hang on."_

"_Ok, mom."_

"Mom, when she is in a hurry, walks three steps each two seconds, approximately covering one meters and a half, if you calculate that… there" she opens her eyes, and points to the structure, "hydraulic door."

"You count mom's steps?" Hope crunches her head as if Joy's is downright weird.

Joy simply shrugs, "I count everyone's steps." They keep listening to the tape, as they hear clearly the sound of a hydraulic door opening and locking behind Maggie, then more hurried steps, then another hissing sound, and a lock system falling into place with a hiss.

Joy points to the very corner of the complex, where a relatively small room is separated by an anteroom and another thick wall, right beside the ventilation airshafts connected all the way to the surface, "Mom is in here."


	49. Suicide Mission 20

**_Chapter 49: Suicide Mission 2.0_**

McGee and the three Buchanan sisters gather around the hologram, studying the last floor trying not to show their horror as they imagine how bad things are down there.

"How do we get there?" Faith finally voices what's in everyone's minds. She glances at Joy briefly, noticing how her sister is zoned out, totally focused at the problem at hand. She looks at McGee, who is very concerned about Joy. Finally Joy nods, as if she had finally reached a decision.

"Sam, what's in that room?"

Rodney is first to check the base schematics, bites his lower lip and turns to look at Sam with huge eyes, "That's exobiology 12."

Sam smiles, closing her eyes for a moment as she considers the information at hand, "It's a biology lab specialized in Alien Flora. Due to its very nature, it was specifically designed to, in any case of a threat of biological contamination, seal itself off from the rest of the base."

Rodney rushes to another computer, bringing a delicate rendering of the structure below to the larger screen. Gibbs, Tony and Ziva approach the scientist, noticing his increasing excitement, "that lab was built with extra thick walls, and is… miraculous… not presenting any signs of structural damage according to our scans."

"What about the air supply?" Jack comes to stand beside Rodney, looking over the map and not understanding anything of it, but he glances at Sam, sure that she will explain it in a way that he will.

"Sir, that specific biolab has two EPA filters, completely independent from the main ventilation system. _If _she is in there, _if _the filters are still working, there's a substantial chance that she might be alive, having been exposed to minimal levels of radiation when compared to the one found outside that sealed lab. However, I don't see how we can reach her in there, as we can't get any readings of anything alive due to the radiation and we can't beam her out."

Joy finally turns around and looks at McGee, who meets her eyes and feels a shiver as he sees the decision in her eyes, and her silent request for forgiveness.

"Joy, no." He leaves his place by the holograph and approaches her in hurried steps, towering over her and watching her eyes filling with tears, but she stays silent and there's no change in her face. She's reached her decision.

"You can't go in there, it's suicide," he whispers, studying her face as she looks at his desolated.

"But Timothy, it's my mom." She says in a quivering voice, her eyes pleading him to understand. He shakes his head in denial, not willing to accept the crazy stunt she's about to make. She bites her lower lip and turns her head, refusing to meet his eyes, "Sam, how long will the HazMat suit hold in the radiation levels down in SL35?"

"What? You can't possibly be thinking on sending someone down there?" moans Rodney, looking at Sam horrified.

_"Can you transport someone to the office immediately above the exobiology lab and use a beacon to transport this person out?"_

Sam looks at Jack, who is staring at her waiting for her answer, "We could transport someone in, but as I've said, the transport is having difficulty reading life signs once in there."

"Besides, the radiation levels are way above anything that is acceptable to human life, that's insane. No marine will go down there to rescue someone who is already dead."

There is a sepulchral silence in the bridge, as well on radio. Sheppard glares at his friend, at the same time that Sam and Jack look at each other for a moment, both of them with an inkling of what is in Joy's head.

_"If you do not have anything positive to add, I'd suggest you to remain quiet,_" comes the furious voice through the radio, and McKay looks around hurt.

"McKay," growls Sheppard, again mad at the insensitivity of his friend.

"I'm just saying the truth. It's common sense. You simply don't send people in boiling pits of radiation. It's not done."

"It's her mother we're talking about." Tony looks sadly at McKay, who suddenly sobers up, properly chastised.

Down on base control, Joy lowers her head and starts silently praying, trying to think of a solution to their situation. McGee sees her shivering for a second, before she lifts clear eyes to him, "You haven't answered my question, how long will the suit hold?"

"It's hot, cumbersome and it's necessary training to properly use the HazMat full body suit."

"I've received the necessary training while working for the BAU, and I also was part of the task force working on the Anthrax investigation while I was still FBI. Just give me a number. Any number." Joy insists, opening her eyes and glancing at the Major standing a few feet away, just observing the proceedings.

"Ten minutes." McKay folds his arms, irresolute.

"Fifteen," Sam glares at McKay, who glares back at her, throws his hands up and walks away to the other side of the bridge, all the time muttering about suicide missions. "At the levels we're registering here, with overlaying HazMat suits you might be safe for fifteen minutes, but still you would have to reach the sealed room two floors below."

Joy shakes her head and approaches again the hologram, "that's must be enough," she looks at the Major O'Donnel, "do you have rock climbing gear here?"

"Just the gear we use for firefighter's training, as well as the Air Force security officers gear they use for training in the desert."

"Bring me all the equipment you have: ropes, kongs, chest ascenders, harnesses, everything. I'll also need a pulley and a small engine that I might connect to a rope able to lift something of about 300 pounds. Halogen flashlights, glow sticks, everything you think I might need, I need it here and I need it in the next five minutes."

The Major nods before leaving to arrange the necessary equipment. Joy then glances at her sisters, and at McGee, before sharing what's on her mind.

"Guys, hear me out, we're going to do the following…"


	50. God laugh at our plans

**_Chapter 50: God laugh at our plans_**

מענטש טראַכט, גאָט לאַכט.

**_Mentsch tracht, Gott lacht._**

**Translation: Man plans, God laughs.**

"We transport someone to SL 35. From there, this someone accesses the ventilation shafts through an opening on the wall and climb down to SL37. We can access the room through the EPA filter openings, the structure there must be easier to get through in that point. We pack up mom properly and climb back to SL35, where Sam can transport us out."

There is a moment of silence, as everyone absorbs the crazy plan. But it doesn't take long for someone to express his displeasure about it, and that someone was, of course, McKay again.

"That plan is madness. Even if you got to her, there's not enough time for you to properly prepare her for transportation, specially considering that the ventilation shaft is too narrow, there's no space for a grown man to crawl there, with the bulk of the HazMat suit, much less someone who is unconscious and probably dying and bleeding from innumerous sores."

"McKay," Daniel shakes his head at the scientist, who lifts his hand, resolute.

"I'm being realistic here. That's not going to work. The ventilation shaft is too narrow for that."

"I agree with him," says Joy through the radio, and surprising McKay and everybody at the bridge. "You said the right thing. A man can't crawl in there. A small woman could."

Jack sighs out loud, as he was afraid that was what she was planning to do. "You can't go in there alone, Joy. I won't let you risk yourself like that. Your father would never forgive me if he'd lost his wife and one of his daughters at the same night. No."

"I'm going with you," says McGee, staring down at Joy, but she shakes her head, not open to discussion.

"No."

McGee gets incensed, as he feels like he's losing control of the situation and something bad is going to happen and there's nothing he can do to stop it. He feels bile coming up and he shakes with fear and anger at the same time, as he sees how stubborn she is being, "Joy, that's insane. I'm not going to sit here while you …"

"Tim, you can't. You're too big." She approaches him and touches his shoulders, which she had so many times praised and lain against, "Your shoulders… They wouldn't fit the ventilation shaft, especially with the equipment we have to carry down, with the HazMat suits and air tanks, you would get stuck in there and you would die."

"But Joy…"

"I won't let you make this sacrifice."

He stares at her for a minute, showing all the hurt in his eyes, and crushing her under a very heavy weight of guilty. He bites his lower lip, before asking in a cracking voice, "And I'm supposed to sit back and let you do it."

"I'm sorry. I have to. It's my mom. Even… even if it's just to retrieve a body. I have to try."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

There is a deep silence in the bridge as they hear the angry conversation happening down at the base. Gibbs looks at Jack, and sees how tortured the old man is as he has to decide to give a go on a mission that, most likely, will result on the deaths of all involved.

"She's not going alone." Ziva says as she takes a step ahead, receiving surprised looks from everyone on the bridge. "I'm as small as her or even smaller than her. Besides, she will need some help to blow up the walls down there."

Tony and Gibbs turn to stare at Ziva, who glances at the two men with a stubborn face. Tony can barely hide his fear for her, but Gibbs takes slow steps until he's face to face with the Israeli. He meets her gaze, which she returns without flinching.

"Are you sure, Ziver?"

"She can't go alone and McGee can't cover her six this time… but I can."

Joy's voice comes loud and clear by the radio, "Have you ever been rock climbing Ziva?"

Ziva smiles a little, remembering her childhood, '"Every spring in the mountains close to Haifa."

Joy keeps looking into McGee's eyes, which are incapable of hiding how hurt he is by her actions. She sighs and speaks to the radio, "then get your ass down here, we have to suit up and gather all the gear we might need down there. There will be no chance for a second try."

She gives a second glance to McGee, who is silently standing there staring down at her, before turning her back and walking towards the door, "I'm going to talk to Ducky. I need a crash course in decontamination procedures."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Once outside, she walks to the field hospital, where Ducky and Jimmy were dutifully working and helping the CDC and the NEST officers in the decontamination of the few patients who were still being tended by them. Most had been transported by the Hammond directly to the Military Hospital by the Cheyenne Mountain, and a whole section of the hospital had been converted to radiation and decontamination center.

A man in a full body orange bunny suit, its glaring orange color being easily recognizable in the half light of that starlit night, blocks her path as she tries to enter the field hospital.

"Sorry ma'am, just people duly suited are allowed from this point on."

She nods, "Can you please call Dr. Mallard? He's helping the field medics with the victims. I need to talk to him."

The man bobs his head and turns around, talking to another HazMat clad person, who walks into the tents of the field hospital.

Joy turns around and rubs trembling hands over her tired face, feeling the onslaught of a blinding headache which had been simmering the whole evening, and had blossomed into a full tribe of pygmies playing drums inside her skull.

"My dear Joy, how can I be of any assistance?"

Joy blinks, and turns to look at Ducky, who is wearing a hideous HazMat Level B suit. His voice came muffed by the mask, but he motions for the young agent to follow him some feet away, and as soon as he is away from the field hospital tents he disconnects the mask and takes it off, smiling as soon as his sweaty skin gets into touch with the cool air of the night and he can finally breath something other than filtered oxygen.

"Ducky I need your help. We've figured out where mom is but… ah… We ran into some problems."

"What kind of problems and how may I assist you?"

"We can't beam her out like we did with the others," Joy's points to the hospital tents and the antlike movement of doctors and CDC specialists going from one tent to the other. "The radiation is not allowing the Hammond to lock onto any life form down there."

"Oh, then how are you going to get her out?"

She stays in silence, looking at the M.E. with tortured eyes for a minute, and the old Scot sighs, "Oh God."

"I'm going down to rescue her. We narrowed down her current position to a small lab in the very last level, and … ah… The Hammond is going to transport me down there, I'm going to get mom out of that lab, prepare her for transport and then the Hammond will transport us out."

"You can't go on your own. The radiation symptoms we've seen so far are… Joy, this is madness."

"I'm not going alone. Ziva is going with me. But that's not the reason why I came searching for you. If she's dead, she's dead. I'll retrieve at least her body for us to bury her. But … if there's the slightest chance of her being alive… I'll do my best to keep her like that."

"I see. Now –"

"She's in a sealed lab, probably receiving a good dose of radiation despite of it being completely cut off from the main ventilation system. The lab has its own air filtering system, but we have no way of knowing of how efficient it is on keeping the radiation out at the same time it keeps the air coming in. I'll need to drag her through ventilation shafts for the equivalent of three floors, until I get her into a part of the structure where Sam can lock on our beacons and transport us out. And I have to do it in less than five minutes."

"My dear, that's…"

"Madness, I know. But I have to try."

Ducky studies the resolute face before him.

"Well, first of all, if she is in a sealed lab, once you breach the seal she will receive the environment radiation. You will be protected in your suit; she won't so you will have a very small window to prepare her.

Joy nods, and settles down to hear him, "first, I need you to cut all her clothes and leave her naked. Her clothes will probably be full of radiation residue, and the furthest away from her, the better. Then you will carefully rub a decontamination gel all over her body, which will block further contamination and it will slowly counteract any absorbed radiation on her skin. You will then carefully put the first layer of a HazMat suit on her, known as Tyvek suit, and don't bother with the gel, just add some more if you see any surface of her skin without gel. Rub a lot particularly over her hair, which might absorb radiation and it might be a while until all of it is cleaned out of her system."

"In ideal circumstances, I would ask you to wash her skin, but the circumstances are a far cry off being ideal, so the gel must be enough until you bring her to surface."

After that, you will need to ensure that she breathes through the transport, so you will adjust a mask like this one over mouth and nose," Ducky shows the mask he's currently wearing hanging from his neck "but hers will probably be a SCBA gear, not an APR like this one, before finally sealing her into another level of the HazMat suit."

"What is the difference between the SCBA gear and the APR?"

"The SCBA gear stands for Self Contained Breathing Apparatus, and it works very similarly to a Scuba tank. It provides oxygen in a positive pressure mask, which means that the air is always flowing, whether the person is breathing or not, thus ensuring that any contaminant will not breach any seal of the suit. The APR stands for Air Purifying mask, and it's used when conditions are not so serious, not necessarily requiring the SCBA."

"How much time will I have once I put her into the SCBA?"

Ducky looks back at the field hospital, frowning, "In ideal circumstances, a full tank might last up to forty five minutes. But it actually depends on the breathing rhythm of the wearer: under extraneous circumstances, when the person is exercising or making a lot of physical effort, thus, expending more oxygen in his muscles, its efficiency is greatly reduced, being able to supply fifteen to thirty minutes of oxygen."

"So, for mom, as she is unconscious, the same oxygen tank would last up to forty five minutes, while for me, as I'll be busting my ass trying to get her out of there, it might last only for fifteen minutes."

"Basically yes."

"Perfect. Bloody perfect."

"Once we have her under our care, other methods may be applied, such as a thoroughly cleansing of skin and conjunctivae, such as eyes, ears, mouth or any cuts found on her, but that must be done once you have her out of there."

Joy nods, "can you gather all the equipment I might need and have it ready here in five minutes?"

Ducky looks at the young woman, noticing her frown, "I'll do my best my dear, but you will also have to take some precautions for yourself. You and Ziva will have to drink water and go to the bathroom before donning the suits, as once in them you won't have the chance of taking it off for any a quick visit to the ladies' room. Besides, when the full layered HazMat suit is sealed, the wearer is completely isolated from the outside atmosphere. Nothing hopefully can come in, but also nothing can come out. That includes heat and sweat. With all layers in, you will be wearing up to 70lbs of gear, that excluding any tools you might need on your venture. It will also be approximately up to 30 F hotter than outside the suit. So you have to be careful, and not overdue yourself before you finish your task at hand."

"I'll keep that in mind," she stands up, "I have to go in. Will you ask some of the airmen to call me when you have everything ready?"

"I will. Give me some minutes."

"Five minutes, that's all I can give you."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS


	51. Sheppard gives Joy a gift

**_Chapter 51: Sheppard gives Joy a gift_**

Joy returns to the main control room and finds a furry of activity there, as the airmen pile climbing gear in a corner of the room so they may take it. She approaches one of them, studying the ropes they have selected with care, verifying their thickness and their strength.

"It must be enough," she mutters, glancing up and seeing Gibbs talking with Ziva and Tony and McGee in a corner. They must have been transported while she was talking with Ducky outside.

Gibbs ends his conversation and approaches her while Ziva, Tony and McGee get closer and start talking in low tones between themselves.

"Boss."

He studies her for a second, taking another step to tower over her with his bigger frame. She looks up to stare in his eyes, and she barely registers the move of his hand.

"OUCH"

She frowns as she rubs the back of her head, looking at him hurt, while he smirks, "that's for having this crazy idea. I'll reserve another one for you once you get out of there alive."

Ziva approaches her, grinning at Gibbs, "I was wondering how long you were able to restrain yourself."

"Long enough." He glances at Joy, "do you have everything you two will need?"

After inspecting the gear, she glances at Major O'Donnell. "I've seen halogen flashlights, but no glow sticks. Do you have any to spare?"

The Major frowns, as he looks again at the gear, "Aren't the flashlights enough?"

"The flashlights are good, but we have to consider that we're going into an extremely volatile environment. Glow sticks are safer as they don't use any type of electricity and there's no risk of sparking."

Major O'Donnell frowns as he considers her request, "That sounds... reasonable. I'll see what I can do. Airman, please." He waves at an airman and both leave the room, in order to search what she has just requested.

McGee and Tony both approach Gibbs and the ladies, each looking at one of the girls with their hearts on their eyes. McGee has apparently resigned himself to her stubbornness and shows her something that he had been able to find with the NEST officers.

"These are Geiger-counter-watches: they are specifically designed to register the dose rate as well as cumulative dose of radiation the wearer is exposed. It also alarms when user defined limits of dose rate are reached, so I've set it already to beep when your time is over, and when the radiation levels are beyond what human body can take."

She studies the watch in her hand, which is a normal stainless steel encased one, the only difference was the different display sections on the crystal liquid display.

"Thanks," she murmurs, looking up at his face, noticing how he avoids her eyes, staring at a point by her shoulder.

"Excuse me," a stranger in gray BDUs interrupts them, walking towards them with a laptop in his arms. Joy studies the arrogant man up and down, noticing him standing beside another one with spiky hair and beautiful green eyes. "If I may, I would like to add my opinion to this reckless and crazy mission you are about to undertake." Joy frowns at him, ready to bite his head off, but the dark haired man smiles and lifts his hand in a pacifying gesture.

"What my friend Rodney here is trying to say, is that he wishes the very best for you in your endeavor," Sheppard says, glaring at Rodney for a second, before looking at Joy again, "In combat situations, or when I have to go into suicide missions –"

"Which happens a lot," interrupts Rodney.

"Yeah, it does. Anyway, I find that the best way to get out of if alive is to do your best, regardless of the circumstance and get the hell out of there as soon as the sh-…" he looks at Gibbs who is glaring at him, and corrects himself, "—ahh… well things hit the fan, if you get my drift."

She smiles faintly and nods, "thanks for the advice."

"That's not the only thing I can give you," he takes something from one of his many pockets, takes one of her hands in his and deposits whatever he had in his hand in hers. It immediately beeps and lights up.

"Figures she has the gene," mutters Rodney, rolling his eyes. He freezes for a moment, a struck expression on his face, and soon starts snapping his fingers excitedly, "No, actually that explains a lot. The gene gives you suicidal tendencies. Everything is explained."

"Shut up, Rodney."

"But it's a brilliant theory. And it actually makes a lot of sense."

"Sure, and—"

"Would you two please stop bickering?" Joy growls at them, "I don't have time for this."

Both men sober up, and Joy looks at the green eyed man, "What is this?"

"This is an Atlantean life sign detector," says Rodney, back into his element. "It has a range of 100 meters and it can detect life forms through building structures, regardless of how thick the walls might be."

John presses a button to the handheld device in Joy's hand, and a simplified map of the room where they are shows up, and several blue lights appear on the screen, indicating everyone alive in the room.

"If your mom is alive," he frowns and looks at her in her eyes, "and I'm hoping she is, this thing can show you exactly where she is, and how far she is from the wall you have to blow up to reach her."

Rodney snaps his fingers again on the air, "And I've also updated the latest schematics of the base, so you can guide yourself through it when you go down the ventilation shaft, so you will know exactly how far down you have to go."

She looks at the two men, who fidget before her, and smiles, "Thanks."

Both smile back, before sobering up. Rodney fidgets, and surprises the hell out of her hugging her by surprise, tapping her lightly on the back, before he takes a step and blushes brightly as he notices what he has done. "Ah.. I hope… ahh I'm sure your mom is fine, and you will get her out alive. Despite the odds… And the probabilities. Actually, if you consider the actual percentage of—"

"McKay, she's got it."

"She did?" He looks at her, and Joy smiles nervously at him, and nods.

"Yes, I did."

Rodney nods and leaves them standing there so he can chat with some techs by the monitors as they watch him walk away. John looks back at Joy and finds her studying the life sign detector.

"It's really handy."

"Uhm…"

"Hey," She looks at him with worried eyes, "you're doing the right thing. It's not necessarily the smartest thing to do, but… well, I've been in your place several times and… one thing that SGC is all about is: We never leave a man behind."

She studies him for a moment, seeing that, despite his age, he carries the burden of command just like her uncle Jack.

"Thanks, sir."

"The name is John. Colonel John Sheppard."

Joy smiles, "That's the name of my oldest brother."

An Air Force security officer enters the room and walks up to one of the other Majors, who points towards the small circle made by the NCIS agents and the Colonel. He approaches them and salutes, and the Colonel salutes back.

"Sirs, Ma'ams, Dr. Mallard requests your presence outside. He said he has your equipment ready, and he wants to suit you up."

Faith and Hope approach the agents, and look at the two small women who glance at each other and nod.

"It's time to bite the bullet, Joy."

"Of all the things you had to get right, it had to be that," says Joy, shaking her head at the Israeli.

The soldier turns around and the people start to move out, so they can see them be suited up and transported. Joy looks back at McGee, standing by Gibbs side and staring at the floor, rolling on the balls of his feet, with his arms folded around himself and with a lost expression on his face.

"You coming?" she asks, her voice hopeful.

He looks up, meeting her eyes for a moment, before he nods and walks up to her. He puts an arm on her shoulders, and both leave the command center, each deep in their own thoughts and tortured by their common fear that, this time, these minutes might be their last moments together.


	52. Goodbye my love

**_Chapter 52: Goodbye my love_**

_It started out as a feeling_  
_Which__ then grew into a hope_  
_Which then turned into a quiet thought_  
_Which then turned into a quiet word_

_And then that word grew louder and louder_  
_'Til it was a battle cry_

Everyone goes out to the ample area in between the three buildings where Ducky is talking with some NEST and CDC officers. Beside them, there are some cases with equipment carefully piled, and several three HazMat full body suits, in five layers each. The airman walks up to them and they talk in low tones for a few seconds, before he leaves to bring the rest of the gathered equipment for the same place.

"Ziva, Joy, please come here," both women approach Ducky, who makes the necessary introductions, "these are Dr. Mitsouri Tanaka, from the CDC," an oriental middle aged man nods at them slowly, and the girls respond the same way, "and Dr. Roger Tchekov, from NEST. They are going to give you the final orientation on what to do once you find your mother, and also how to properly gear up with the HazMat suits."

Ziva frowns at that, "aren't we supposed just to put it on and we're ready to go?"

Dr. Tanaka shakes his head, his black sweaty hair stuck to his temples, as he had taken the mask off from his suit, "No, ma'am, I'm afraid it's not that simple. We are going to suit you up with several layers of protection, with the very best state of the art technology in HazMat suits, but we have to check carefully if it is properly done."

Gibbs glances at Ducky, who nods silently to his friends and takes a step back, going round the women talking with the doctors, "I'm afraid that I've become obsolete here, as the technology they are going to use is far beyond anything I've ever seen."

Gibbs glances at the girls, talking with the doctors, who are showing them all the various layers of protection they would be suited up, "Ducky, tell me the truth, what are their chances?"

Ducky glances at the girls, and sighs, "The equipment is good, but it has never been tested in such extreme conditions, so I worry about them. They will be sent into an environment with radiation levels way beyond any accepted by WHO, and despite all protection they might have, and I fear that the time, specifically in this situation, will be crucial."

Gibbs glares at the doctor, silently begging for an explanation which Ducky gladly gives him, "Jethro, they will be in extreme conditions of radiation and heat, and being slowed down by several pounds of equipment. And they will have to breach two different massive walls and escalate three floors, all of that in less than fifteen minutes."

"It's suicide, isn't it." Gibbs squints at the girls, his gut twisting with worry.

Ducky sighs out loud, looking at the girls again, who are checking the oxygen tanks available for them, "I'm afraid so, my friend."

_I'll come back_  
_When you call me_  
_No need to say goodbye_

_Just because everything's changing_  
_Doesn't mean it's never_  
_Been this way before_

_All you can do is try to know_  
_Who your friends are_  
_As you head off to the war_

Ziva detaches from the group and walks to Gibbs, giving a glance at Tony who is looking at her with serious eyes, not saying anything as, unfortunately, there's nothing to be said or done.

"They want us to get ready, so we need to follow them so we can get geared up."

"Are you still coming here?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Joy looks from the advanced equipment Dr. Tchekov is showing how to operate and glances at McGee, who is standing by Tony with his soul in his eyes. She gulps as he sees how hurt he is, and feels like a part of herself is slowly dying as he looks at her with such…

"Agent Buchanan, are you paying attention to me?"

"Uhm?"

"This equipment is very delicate, you have to…"

She turns her attention back to Dr. Tchekov, who keeps his litany for a few more minutes, but her heart and her mind is not in it anymore.

"I think that's all I can tell you about this," he finally says, with a satisfied smile which Joy politely reciprocates.

"Now you'd better get ready, we have to adjust the suits for your size still."

"Great."

She calls out for Ziva and follows the doctors, who gather the suits with the help of other officers and guide them to a small tent that's been set up for them.

Once inside the tent, the two women get down to their underwear, and the doctors politely order them to visit the bathroom in order to avoid any surprises while in the suit. Once they are done, they give them plain cotton underwear in order to avoid any abrasion, and offer them the first layer of protection, which is nothing more than a normal one-piece Nomex jumpsuit which seals snuggly wrists, neck and ankles. They are given cotton socks and specially made heat resistant boots.

They are in the jumpsuits, the doctors help both into a chemically treated Tyvek full body suit, as well as another layer of Tyvek booties over their boots and Silver Shield chemical protective gloves over latex surgical gloves.

The doctors start adjusting the suit so it may be snug and not hinder movements, as that will be essential when they are crawling in into ventilation shafts. Once this layer is in place, they adjust cooling vests on their chests in order to help to maintain their temperature once they are in the completely sealed suits.

One of the doctors brings the oxygen tanks and the sealed jumpers, which is a full encapsulation suit.

"Wait," Joy stops the doctor before he lifts the oxygen tank so he can hook on her back, "before you seal us off, do you mind if we… just… have a minute?" She points to the door of the tent, and to the people outside just waiting for them.

Ziva freezes, and notices as the two doctors frown before they nod.

"Sure, go say your goodbyes."

_Now we're back to the beginning_  
_It's just a feeling and no one knows yet_  
_But just because they can't feel it too _  
_Doesn't mean that you have to forget_

_Let your memories grow stronger and stronger_  
_'Til they're before your eyes_

_You'll come back_  
_When they call you_  
_No need to say good bye_

She smiles nervously at them, before rushing out of the tent towards Gibbs, Tony and McGee. The three men notice her approach, and McGee takes two steps towards her, worried at the intense expression on her face.

"Joy, what's wro-?" She interrupts him grabbing him by his shoulders and neck, bringing him down to a desperate kiss as she tries to silently transmit all her love and fear in a few seconds.

McGee's brain takes a few seconds to catch up, but when it finally does his arms go around her waist and drag her against his chest, as he feels tears pooling in his eyes as desperation and fear fill his heart.

They break the kiss out of breath, "Tim, I—"

"I know."

"You do?"

"Yeah," he runs a hand over her ponytailed hair, "I know." He looks down at her dark eyes and sees all the worry in them, for him, not for herself, and he falls in love all over again, "Ah Joy," he hugs her and whispers against her neck. "Just come back, okay? Just come back for me."

The two lovers silently hug, fear and desperation pouring out of every pore, and Gibbs, Ducky and Tony just watch them with heavy hearts. Tony lifts his eyes and notices Ziva, in the same attire Joy is, standing a few steps back. Her beautiful brown eyes move and for a moment their gazes meet.

He is moving even before he is aware of it, and before he knows what he's doing, he gathers her in his arms and kisses her senseless, pouring years of frustration, love and fear in the kiss that took years to happen, and which is happening now just because his heart is screaming at what his head is telling it, that this time, maybe it is it.

There will be no rescue mission in Somalia.

No lucky dismantling of bombs.

She might not come back.

Ziva becomes putty in his hands, before throwing her arms around his shoulders and giving as hard as she gets, her expert tongue exciting him madly at the same time he shivers in fear.

They separate and gaze into each other's eyes, in awe of what has just happened. He gulps, afraid of what might be her reaction, and she smiles snarkily, "Your timing sucks, Tony."

He chuckles, "I know. I just… well.. ah I wanted you to know. Before you… ah…"

She growls at him, and kisses him again, this time with a sensuality that make his knees week and his brain becomes putty. They finally separate, she growls, "I'll survive, just so I can come back and kick your ass, my hairy butt."

They grin at each other and separate, suddenly becoming aware of Gibbs standing right beside them.

"Oh, Gibbs, -"

"Oh, Boss, I can –"

"_ouch__."_

"_ouch__."_

Both look hurt at Gibbs, who grins at his two agents who are holding the back of their own heads with their hands, "It was damn time."

Tony looks at him open mouthed, as Ziva just grins. Gibbs points to Ziva with a nod of his head, "She is right, your timing sucks, DiNozzo," he leans and hugs the young Israeli in his arms, this daughter of his heart, "you take care down there, and get out alive. No heroic stunts, okay?"

"As you wish, Gibbs."

They separate, and for a moment Gibbs allows himself a tender touch on her cheek, as he studies her face for a moment.

"It's time to go," he lets go, almost feeling the physical pain of the separation.

He lifts his eyes and sees Joy and McGee still in a tight embrace; McGee is looking at him with pain filled eyes as he holds the woman he desperately loves against his chest, unable to stop her as there's no one else to willing to do this.

He understands her motives, but that doesn't make it less painful or even right.

McGee takes at step back and uses his right hand to lift Joy's tear smeared face from his chest. She sniffles, and murmurs almost inaudibly, "It's time to go."

He wipes a tear which had escaped from her eyes, "I know." He leans and takes her lips in a soft kiss, just a soft touch, a silent promise of a future yet to come. "I'll be waiting here."

She opens her eyes which she had closed for the last kiss, and looks into his amazing green eyes which have fascinated her since the first time they met.

"Joy?" Ziva calls her out, and Joy leaves the comfort of Tim's arms and follows her team mate into the tent again, where the doctors finish adjusting the equipment on them.

"Air tanks?"

"Check the positive pressure."

"Ziva, can you hear me?"

"Radio is working fine."

"I'm opening the oxygen valve." Oxygen starts being pumped into the last suit the doctors made them put on over the previous ones, this one a full encapsulation suit with hoods, which starts to blow up like a balloon as the air starts being pumped inside. They adjust the integral gloves as well as the boots of the suit, and the doctors adjust the size so it fits snuggly on their arms and legs.

Joy briefly touches the viewport of the hood, which allows her to see the doctors, and gulps as she immediately feel the sweat appearing on her back. Dr. Tanaka carefully adjusts another set of gloves over their hands, which are now protected with five layers of gloves.

Ziva opens and closes her hands, testing her dexterity with the several layers of protection, "I feel like an onion."

Joy chuckles, "You will soon smell like one soon, if it is as hot as I imagine it is down there and we are kept cooking inside of these."

Dr. Tchekov brings another one, this looking like laminated kitchen paper, "This is the last one, after you put these flash suits we can adjust the harnesses and the other climbing gear."

Joy glances at Ziva and, even behind the viewport of the hood, she could see the distaste of the Israeli towards the last level of protection.

They slowly put it on over their other five suits, and the doctors carefully adjust the viewports so they are correctly one over the other. They use some straps to adjust it to their small frames, and finally help them into the seating harnesses. Joy gives the Geiger-watch and the Atlantean lifesign detector to the doctor and he carefully straps one on her wrist, while the other he attaches it to a climbing carabiner on her waist harness.

The girls finish getting prepped with the climbing gear, and once they check everything, twice, they signal for the doctors who take a step back.

They have three metallic cases carefully filled with equipment they may use: the small engine and the pulley system to fish out the heavy things from the ventilation shafts, ropes, several ropes, links, hip harnesses, shoulder harnesses, flashlights, tons of glow sticks, Maggie's new laser weapon, plastic explosives, knives, and P-90s, just in case. Another case had extra layers of HazMat suits they've just donned, along with three big jars of heated decontamination gel they are supposed to smear all over Maggie before transport.

Ziva grabs some glow sticks in her hands, gives two for Joy while she keeps two for herself, and stands ready for action.

"Sam, can you read us?"

"Loud and clear, Joy. Both your radio and your transport beacon are good for us."

Joy and Ziva look at each other, silently wishing each other good luck, before looking at their team standing just a few steps away. Faith and Hope, along with McKay and Sheppard come to see them off, and the two remaining sisters hug trying to comfort each other.

"We're ready," Ziva says and her gaze meets with Tony as the transport is activated, but she can still read his lips before she's gone. He mouths, "I love you."

On the other hand, Joy's gaze doesn't leave McGee's, who is just looking at her with his soul in his eyes, and despite the heat, the tightness of the harnesses and the weight of the pressurized air tank on her back, she knows that what is making her more uncomfortable is the fact that she is hurting him so deeply.

She longs to run to him and explain and hug him and kiss him, but the transport is activated, and their time is over.

Hope hides her face in her sister's neck as, in a flash of light, the two women and the cases are gone, just to reappear thirty five floors below ground.

_You'll come back_  
_When__ it's over_  
_No need to say good bye_


	53. Fires and bushfires

**_Chapter 53: Fires and bushfires_**

**_Glasgow, Montana, three days after Jonah's kidnapping  
_**

"JOSEPH! JOSEPH!" Maggie's hysterical screeches can be heard through out the police precinct, making the on duty officer come running to the main reception desk, just to be bulldozed by a tall brunette woman with a baby bun, as she runs into the room towards the offices in the back.

Joseph, Gideon and Clay walk out of Clay's office, and the reverend runs towards his wife, whose face is smeared by tears, and her eyes are deep pools of terror.

"What's wrong? Is the baby okay?" Joseph takes her in his arms and feels the shakes she can't hold back.

"No, this one is fine. But-" Maggie sobs and hides her face on Joseph's chest, "he took them. He took them. I was just gone for a minute, and when I came back, they weren't there. THEY WEREN'T THERE."

Her words strike the three men mute, as horror creeps over them. Joseph lifts tormented eyes towards Gideon, who frowns and approaches Maggie, who is still crying brokenheartedly against Joseph's chest.

"Mrs. Buchanan, you have to tell me everything you know."

"But I don't know. I DON'T KNOW."

"Maggie!"

She looks at Joseph with fury, "I DON'T KNOW! I just stopped to fill the tank. I went inside to pay the gas for old Jeb, and left Hope and Joy in the car." She sobs, and one of her hands immediately goes to her pregnant belly, which prompts Joseph to rush to get a chair for his wife, settling her on it. "When I came back, the door was open, and they weren't inside the car. They weren't anywhere."

Gideon gets another chair and takes Maggie's trembling hands in his, "Maggie, tell me about the other cars. Have you seen other cars around? Have you heard the noise of a car stopping on the gravel?"

"I don't know. I don't know."

"Maggie…"

"I don't know, oh God, please, my girls." Maggie starts sobbing out loud, and supports her forehead against her open palm, as she leans forward and lets all pain and desperation out.

Joseph kneels before his wife and hugs her, as she cries brokenheartedly, "It's my fault, I shouldn't have left them alone. I knew of the dangers. I shouldn't –"

"It's not your fault," says Joseph against her hair, feeling tears pooling in his own eyes, "It's nobody's fault. We'll get them back."

"But they haven't found Jonah, and it has been three days. Three days!" Maggie lowers her head and keeps crying, "I can't live without my girls for three hours, imagine three days! Oh God, have mercy of me, I want my girls. Please return my girls. Oh God."

The two parents hug and cry out, praying brokenheartedly for the return of their children, while Gideon, moved deeply by the scene, walks with new spirit into Clay's room, where he and Agent D'Amadeo had prepared a murder board to study the previous case and start a profile.

"It doesn't make sense," says D'Amadeo, studying the other kidnapped kids pictures. "He changed his M.O."

"What do you mean?" Clay asks as he enters the room, looking at the two agents and waiting for answers.

"He has never taken two kids at once. Why did he do that?" He frowns as he looks at the kids, trying to find a pattern, a link, something. All kids were beautiful, perfect teeth, pink colored lips, rosy cheeks, with loving parents who adored them. Perfect. Perfect children. Perfect families.

Perfection.

"Damn," he says, and runs towards the two tragedy stricken parents, and leans over them, "Maggie, listen to me. And listen to me very carefully. When you left to pay for the gas, what were the girls doing?"

"Why is this relevant?" Joseph frowns at the profiler, who waves his hand a little, just trying to get their attention.

"I might be onto something."

Maggie sniffs and wipes her face, "Joy was staring out of the window, not moving, while Hope was doing her thing."

"Her thing?"

"Yes, playing with her makeup kit and checking herself on the mirror. She is vain like that, whenever she has time, she looks into the mirror. Her hair must always be perfect, so should be her makeup, the little I let her use. Why?"

Gideon stands up slowly, staring ahead while his mind processes the information, "Perfect. Perfection. That's what he is seeking."

"I don't understand," says Joseph, his arms around his wife's shoulders, but his eyes firmly set on the FBI agent.

Gideon looks at Joseph, "Do you have a picture of Hope?"

Joseph scrambles to his wallet, and gives one of his pictures to Gideon, who studies it with an intense stare, before turning to Clay, D'Amadeo and the two parents, "This was never about Jonah. If you see Jonah's picture, he could be a twin to Hope. Hope was the victim he wanted all along. He took Jonah just because his quarry got away in the first place, but when presented with a new opportunity, he took it, regardless of the consequences and the danger of exposure. But he wasn't aware of one thing."

"You are not making sense, Agent Gideon." Joseph stands up, wipes his face, and glares at the agent, "Are you saying that bastard was after Hope all along?"

"Yes, it makes perfect sense now. But he didn't know one very important little detail."

"What would it be?" Clay folds his arms, as he tries to follow the reasoning of the Agent.

"Joy. She knows _who_ he is. Not only that, she knows _what_ he is. And she's protected Hope the first time, and when he tried to kidnap Hope again, she forced him to take her with them."

"But she's just a kid. How can she be able to force him to take her with them?" Clay is sounding more incredulous at each second that passes.

"I have no idea, but Joy won't let him touch Hope, and she will fight him till her last breath to protect Hope from him."

"How can you be so sure?" D'Amadeo is barely containing his disbelief at the theory his colleague is spouting.

Gideon goes to his wallet, and carefully unfolds the drawing the little girl gave him, showing the demon with claws hanging over the playground, and he delicately runs his hands over it, "Because she is able to see things not meant for human eyes." He studies the drawing, noting something he hadn't noted before. "The Commander. She said we should contact the Commander."

"But how do we do that?" asks Maggie, standing up and twisting her hands nervously, glancing briefly at Joseph whose face had suddenly taken a determined look.

"Do you have a prayer group in your church?" Gideon studies the Reverend, who nods silently, understanding what the agent is trying to say.

"I can gather everyone in ten minutes."

"Do it."

"Ah… please, you've gotta be kidding. We can't solve this case with a bunch of church going people." D'Amadeo stares at Gideon as if he has gone mad, but Gideon points to the drawing in his hands.

"Nothing in this investigation has been regulation since the beginning. We have no leads, we have no ransons notes, we have no suspect. Just children who disappear and, after approximately four weeks, appear dead after being abused across state lines. He's toying with us, and that ends now."

Gideon rushes for his jacket, "Clay, take me to the petrol station where the girls disappeared," he glances at Joseph, "gather your prayer group, and ask them to ask for God's intervention, specifically to send his Commander and his warriors to battle the monster Joy's seen."

"And you really think that would work? Are you mad, Gideon?" D'Amadeo looks at him astonished at his actions.

Gideon smiles softly, "It doesn't matter what I believe. What matters is what this madman believes, and if he believes he is being directed by a demonlike creature, what better way to fight him than with his archenemies, the whole army of the Heavenly Hosts?"

"This is insane," moans D'Amadeo, but gets his jacket and gets ready to follow the sheriff and the other agent.

Gideon stops in front of the Reverend and his wife, who is now calmer and is looking at him with clear eyes, "Do you think this will work?" Maggie asks, her hysteria gone substituted by hope.

"I don't know. You are the reverend here. What do you think?" He asks looking into Joseph's eyes, who nods and smiles thinly at Gideon.

"Godspeed, Gideon, mighty warrior of God."

Gideon nods with a thin smile on his lips, and follows Clay and D'Amadeo out of the police precinct, rushing towards the police car outside, while Joseph and Maggie run to the different phones and start dialing their prayer group, starting a fire that would light up the little town of Glasgow, spread out through the plains in Montana and reach the neighboring states, silently starting a chain reaction in the Christian community in the area, who during the next few hours would gather together in prayer, crying and shouting to the heavens for intervention, and moving the heart of the Almighty.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

In every town where the saints gathered in prayer, brilliant firelike stretches of light soared towards the sky, cutting a brilliant swath through the smoke of the battles being fought for the lives of the missing children, and these spots stopped over their protected towns, bringing a golden trumpet to their lips.

The signal carried over farmlands, over the prairies, from one end of the sky to the other.

Every angelic warrior could hear it and knew what it meant.

The signal reached loud and clear Tal's ears, who leaped to his feet and unfurled his wings as he stared down at the city of Glasgow, Montana. Behind him, a whole army of several Heavenly Hosts were waiting anxiously just for the signal that has just come.

He drew his sword out, and shouted, "Finally, they've lit the bushfire! Let's go release the children!"


	54. Monsters

**_Chapter 54: Monsters_**

_Hell is empty and all the devils are here. - William Shakespeare _

Inside a dilapidated barn in a farm not very far away from where they were kidnapped, Joy and Hope shivered and hugged each other sitting curled up in a cage placed in the stalls where horses had been kept several years before.

From the other stalls, they could hear the crying and the moaning of the other children, also kept as animals by the monster who had kidnapped them from Maggie's car. Hope was still sniffling, her face reddened with a palm imprint from the slap she had received when she tried to fight him off. Joy, in the other hand, stared fixatedly at a point beyond the dusty bars, where she could see crawling black snickering creatures looking at them with red shining eyes.

"We found her. We found her," said Despair to his colleague, Insanity, who was looking at the little girls with a malicious smile, showing off its yellowed fangs.

"Just wait until the Destroyer hears that. We've found the Servant!" It crackled and its laughter brought shivers to both girls, one who could see and hear it and the other one who could only feel its malevolence.

"I'm afraid, Joy," says Hope, between her tears, "the bad man is going to hurt us."

Joy shook her head, still staring at the crawling hand inching towards her feet, which she instinctively folded away from those disgusting claws.

"I'm not worried about him," says Joy, eliciting a gasp from Hope, as those were the first words she had ever heard the freak kid say.

"Joy, you... you speak?" Hope blinked, trying to dispel her tears to better look at the brunette kid, who leaned back and put a hand on her shoulders.

"Hope, I need you to listen to me, and listen carefully." She glances at the monsters, before looking back at the blond girl. "When he comes back, I want you to sit in the back of the cage, and make yourself as small as possible. Don't call his attention to you, and let me handle him. Whatever happens, don't speak, don't cry out."

"Why?" Hope lifted a shaking hand to clean her nose, smearing snot over her cheek. "What's going to happen?"

"Let me deal with him."

"What are you going to do?"

"It doesn't matter. But don't interfere." Joy's gaze falls again on the snickering creatures, and she closes her eyes as the sulphuric smell of their breath mixes with urine of the wounded kids treated as animals in the other cages.

"What is going to happen?"

"He is going to come in here, and choose one of us to play. He will hurt us, just because he wants to hear our screams. The more we scream, the more he will like it. So, whatever happens, don't scream. Don't talk. If you talk, he will hurt you more."

"How do you know that?"

Joy folds her arms around herself, and leans forward, trying to see beyond the writhing mass of demons blocking the exit of their cage.

"Because I used to live with a monster like him before."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

One hour later, a 1960 blue Chevy truck rolled slowly to a stop before the barn, and a white man in jeans and a blue plaid shirt got out of it, took a rucksack from the passenger seat and went towards the line of trees just a few feet away.

He dropped the rucksack carelessly on the floor, and walked back to the Chevy, got a shovel from the trunk and went back to the tree line. Once there, he started to dig, and after a few minutes he had a shallow grave, enough for the rucksack he had brought from the car.

He smiled, left the shovel against the tree and dragged the rucksack to the hole, which fell with a bump on the soft earth. He then started to cover the hole with the earth, until only a slight bump remains, the only thing to indicate the hole he had created. He walked towards a deeper part of the woods, gathers some dead leaves and spread over the shallow grave, effectively hiding it from curious eyes and making it blend with the rest of the floor.

Finally he cleaned his dirty hands on his jeans, took the shovel in his hands, and made the slow track towards the barn a few yards away.

He had new pets to play with tonight.


	55. Phonecalls

_**Chapter 55: Phonecalls  
**_

_**Present day  
Buchanan household in Georgetown  
**_

Temp was lying on the sofa, staring sightlessly to the ceiling, her gut twisting in fear in worry. She had been sitting by the phone since five pm, waiting and praying for it to ring, since Faith had called her in Quantico informing her of what happened.

Once informed of the situation, her supervisor released her from duty so she could try to contact her relatives, but as she couldn't meet everyone in time to fly to Nevada, she took her small Beetle and drove to Joy's townhouse. From there, she had tried to contact Johnny's and Luke's CO, warned Lisa, contacted Matt's supervisor and even left a message for Mark, but he was on an assignment and would return only in two days.

She holds her cellphone tightly in her hands, while her lips soundlessly moved in prayer, asking to God for her father to call, for her sisters to call, for anyone...

The phone rings, and she jumps scared, and dashes for it to answer.

"Dad?"

"Uhm... Temp? I was trying to reach Joy," says Sarah McGee, twisting the cord of the phone in her hand, while she sits in the common room of her dorm in Waverly.

"Sarah!" Temp immediately starts to cry, her heartfelt sobs bringing terror and tears to Sarah, as Temp struggles to speak and can't and Sarah becomes more and more desperate.

"Oh, my God. Something happened. Is that why Tim couldn't pick me up tonight? I've tried everyone's phones. I've even called Gibbs, but his phone is out of service area. Is it Tim? Oh God. Oh God. Is it Joy?" Sarah starts to hyperventilate, and Temp struggles to calm her sobbing.

"It was..." Temp hiccups, "mom. Her lab... it's gone. It blew up when she was on the phone with …" another hiccup shakes Temp, who closes her eyes and wipes her face, before continuing, "Joy, and everyone, Gibbs, Tony, Ziva, Faith and Hope left with Uncle Jack for … Nevada so they can try to..."

"Oh, my God..." Sarah starts crying on the phone too, as she also fell in love with the snarky lady who had been a pillar of strength during the nightmare of the Waverly's shootings and the following mess with her father.

"Do you have any news? Did anybody contact you?"

"Not yet. I couldn't make it for the transport, so I stayed behind so I could contact the rest. I'm sorry I've completely forgotten you... I'm so sorry. But I'm so scared."

Temp starts crying again, and Sarah sniffs on the phone, "Do you... want me to come over? We could stay together until someone calls."

"Would you? I really don't want to be on my own."

"I'll be there in thirty minutes."

"Thanks, Sarah."

Both girls disconnect, and Temp lies again on the sofa, hugging the phone against her chest, happy with the perspective of having a friendly face beside her in this time of need.

The phone rings, and Temp smiles, as she thinks that Sarah probably has forgotten to tell her something, "Hey, Sarah."

"It's not Sarah, dear. It's Dad. What's going on that you left dozen messages here?"

"Dad?"

And she bursts in tears again.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Teal'c studies Joseph Buchanan's face as it changes from surprise, terror, and finally despair, as a young voice cries in the other side of the line.

He sniffs as tears pool in his eyes, and he leans a little, as if he is in physical pain, as if a vital part of his body has been cut, leaving him bleeding and raw, forcing him to support a hand against the counter of the small market where they were using the phone.

Teal'c leaned his head to the side, waiting for him to finish the conversation.

"How serious is it?"

"Is everyone gone to Nevada? Faith, Hope, Gibbs' team …

"Have you heard from them since then?"

"We're going to arrange transport, and we will go immediately for Nevada. No, pumpkin, you'd better stay where you are. Just wait until Sarah comes, and you two girls try to coordinate with the boys if … ahh... as soon as we have news, we will contact you."

"I love you too, sweetie. I've gotta go, kiddo." He disconnects and slowly puts the phone on its cradle, as he lowers his head very slowly as he feels sobs of pain and fear bubbling up from his chest.

He cries now, as he is with a friend, who will not think him weak or pass judment for showing emotion, because he knows that later he won't have the solace of letting his pain and fear show, as he will have to be strong for his kids, who right now had just been exposed to a world he had no wish for them to be aware of.

And now they knew about it, thanks to dire circumstances beyond his control.

"JosephBuchanan, what ails you?"

"We have to go back, Teal'c." He lifts teary eyes to his Jaffa friend.

Teal just studies Joseph, waiting for an explanation for such emotional downpour, "There was an explosion in Nellis. Maggie's lab is gone, probably half of the base is gone too, as it was a nuclear blast. Ah... my girls and Jack are on their way, so... now they will know."

Teal'c slowly nods, "You did not wish to expose your children to the existence of the Stargate Program, even though they are mighty warriors and they would be worthy additions to the fight against our enemies."

"You don't understand Teal'c."

"Then explain to me, JosephBuchanan." Teal'c arches an eyebrow, silently demanding an answer.

"They already have their own enemies. Mighty enemies against whom they have to fight everyday. They don't need another war."

"Indeed." Teal'c nodded, and followed Joseph Buchanan as they both left in the small marked car in the tiny town of Minnesota where Jack had his small cabin by the lake. They entered the car and drove towards the cabin, where they had been for the last two days, as Teal'c had requested the use of the place from Jack and Joseph invited himself over to have some rest from the breakneck rhythm of SGC.

Once they got to the cabin, they started packing, closing windows and preparing to leave. Once they've ensured everything was as they found it, they locked the house and went to the front porch.

Teal'c took a small transmitter from his pocket, and turned it on. After a small conversation on the radio, a bright flash of light engulfed them, and they were beamed to Nevada, for a nightmare that neither of them had any wish to participate in.


	56. Jack vs Joseph

**_Chapter 56: Jack vs Joseph_**

"It's good to see you, SamanthaCarter," said Teal'c, leaning his head forward in salute, as Sam smiled tensely and rushed to give him a hug.

"I just wish it was in better circumstances," she said, before giving a glance at Joseph, who immediately went to stand by Jack's side, looking at the screens with maps of the base and where two blinking dots were moving on the lower levels. Both men stand silently side by side, years of camaraderie making it unnecessary for them to exchange words to express what was happening in their minds.

"Hi, Joseph," said Jack, his voice low and heavy with pain.

"Jack, tell me everything."

"It's a mess, Joseph." Jack sighs, and rubs tired hands on his face, before turning to look at his friend, who he has known since boot camp. "We've been able to get everyone out in fairly good condition until sublevel 26, but from there to sublevel 35 they were presenting signs of radiation poisoning… from mild to… extreme."

"Maggie?" Joseph whispers, almost afraid of Jack's answer, who studies his friend's face before pointing to the place on the screen a little bellow where the two blinking dots were.  
"She is still down there, Joseph."

"What are those blue dots?" Joseph points at two blue dots on the screen, which appear to be moving in the map.

"Ah… Joseph," Joseph hears the hesitation on Jack's voice, and looks at this face, trying to read what his old friend is unwilling to say, and the despair in them are a dead giveaway.

"Oh, no," he mutters, feeling shakes running all over.

"It's Joy and Ziva. They went to get Maggie," Jack says in a low voice, just waiting for his friend's temper to explode.

"And you let them? FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"WHAT DID YOU EXPECT ME TO DO? TIE HER DOWN? SHE'S YOUR DAUGHTER, AS STUBBORN AS YOU ARE!"

Both men glare at each other, their faces red, hands closed in tight fists, as each are controlled by their well known tempers.

Daniel glances at Sam, who is looking at the two furious men with concerned eyes, before he finally decides to interfere, "Now it's not the time for assigning blame or responsibility." Both men turn to glare at Daniel, who flinches but doesn't back down.

"We're currently tracking them as they are in the lab in SL35. They need to get through the wall to the ventilation shafts, climb down to floors and then access the sealed lab we … think … Maggie is."

"You think?" Joseph can't hide the incredulity from his voice. He glances from Daniel, to Carter, Jack and finally Cam who is leaning against the wall, completely out of his element as he doesn't know what to do with himself.

It's not his team down there, he was glad for that, but he wished there was anything he could to do to help.

"Why didn't you transport her into the sealed room immediately, SamanthaCarter?" Teal'c's voice interrupted them, his calm tone of voice soothing the exalted spirits of the two older men.

"We couldn't, Teal'c. The radiation was too great and it is wreaking havoc with our locking mechanism."

"Yet still you left them go down there?" Joseph's voice quivers as he considers the possibility of losing not one, but two of his family members.

Jack, calmer now, runs a hand over his face, "Joseph, if I didn't let her go, she would have found a way of going down on her own. That daughter of yours is as stubborn as a mule. At least this way we're monitoring their progress."

Joseph sighs, aware of the mile wide stubbornness streak his daughter has, glances at the map, "How long do they have down there?"

Carter glances at Jack, who nods, giving her permission to report, "We gave them a margin of fifteen minutes, thanks to the several layers of protection we arranged for them as well as our constant monitoring from above. The moment things change, or something goes wrong, we'll transport them out. I guarantee you that."

"We've just transported them when we received Teal'c's radio call. There's still hope." Daniel looks at Joseph's face, which seems to have aged ten years in only two minutes, since he has heard the news of the situation down in the base.

Joseph locks tormented eyes with Jack, noting how his old friend is also suffering, as he had the power to stop the girls, but one thing that had been ingrained in their training was never let a man behind. So he respected Jack's decision, despite the pain it might result later on.

Speaking of pain...

"Where's Timothy?" He receives a blank look from Cam, Daniel and Sam, but Jack nods, pointing with his head to the planet bellow.

"He's down there, working with the other geeks to arrange the transport of the other wounded. Sheppard and McKay went down with Gibbs team, so they could help them gear up."

Joseph nods, as he reorganized his priorities in his head, "Then, I would like to be with my son, if you don't mind."


	57. A Father's prayer

a/n: I've just realized that this might seem a little OOC for McGee. But I'm a firm believer that real men do cry, when the situation deserves it. So, enjoy...

* * *

**_CHAPTER 57: A Father's prayer_**

**_"The family is a haven in a heartless world.", Christopher Lasch._**

Carter transports Joseph to the control room, and he is immediately greeted by Gibbs and Tony. As the two men take a step back, a blond hurricane jumps in Joseph's arms, almost knocking him over.

"Daddy, where have you been? Mom's lab blew up, people were hurt and Joy went down there to look for mom, and..." Finally, the nervous energy that kept Hope going until now drops to nill, and she simply hugs her father, crying as she is finally overtaken by fear that had been bubbling underneath of her carefree attitude.

Joseph simply hugs Hope tight, lifting tortured eyes to Gibbs, then finally glancing toward Faith, who is standing two feet to the left, eager to let go of her iron control of her emotions, but she can't really hide from him her tear filled eyes.

Joseph silently stretches one arm towards Faith, who in seconds is hugging him too, being comforted by his usual aftershave.

"Have faith, girls. We've been through worst situations than this." Joseph murmurs against Faith's hair, then gently kisses her forehead.

Faith wipes her tears, and walks out of her father's arms, "I really can't remember anything worse than this, Dad."

Joseph chuckles, as he gently takes Hope's arms from around himself, and guiding her to Faith, "I'm sure that you will remember, if you make the effort."

Finally, Joseph approaches Gibbs, and his worried eyes run around the control room, not finding the subject of his worries. Gibbs smiles thinly, before telling him where McGee is.

In hurried steps, Joseph walks out of the control room, deviating from the airmen who are blocking his path, almost running out of the building and crashing the big building doors open.

He breathes deeply as his lungs are filled with the warm desert air. He walks down the front steps of the building, observing the movement of the HazMat doctors coming and going from several field hospital tents that were set up as far as the eye can see in the courtyard of the base.

He looks around for a minute, uncertain of where he should go, until a voice he knows well calls out his name, "Joseph?"

He turns around, and finds McGee sitting dejectedly on the floor beside huge craters of equipment. His normally impeccably clothes are dirty from sitting on the floor; the jacket is thrown over one of the crates and the white shirt underneath is glued to his chest with sweat, thanks to the elevated temperatures found in Nevada even at night.

But what really cut deeply Joseph's heart was how his young face was contorted in anguish, and how his green eyes were looking at him tortured with fear.

"She left... she..." McGee lowers his chin to his chest, and sobs rise as the very real possibility of losing Joy presents itself in his mind.

And he would be losing her for something from her own doing, not by an enemy's bullet or a case gone wrong.

In two seconds Joseph was in front of McGee, and in the next second he had grabbed him by his arms and lifted him from the floor, bringing him to a tight hug as both men cry about the fierce women they love, which were currently in the very present danger of dying several feet below.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"I should have stopped her," says McGee, staring at his hands, as they were sitting on crates outside the base after their crying fit was over, one of his big feet drawing circles on the floor. "I knew of the dangers. I knew that..."

"You couldn't have stopped her. She would have found of way of doing it, regardless of what you might do to stop her," Joseph says, looking fixedly at a group of airmen carrying a stretcher of one of the wounded civilians towards a Helicopter ready for transport.

"Why does she have to be so...bullheaded! Why can't she think before jumping without checking the water level, and be damned the consequences?" growls McGee, his fear being substituted by anger.

Joseph rests his eyes on McGee's anger filled face, and sighs as this last stunt of his daughter might as well be a turning point on her relationship with the elder McGee. Every man has his limits and Joy might have inadvertently pushed McGee into his.

"That's the price us fools have to pay for loving strong willed women," McGee glares at Joseph, still feeling fury churning with fear in his gut. "They scorn our need to have them protected, to see them well, as they are always so sure that they can handle the situation, but they can't see that we need to know that they are safe in order to function. If that knowledge is taken from us, we're a mess."

"What do we do now? Just sit here waiting until they..." McGee points to the door of the building behind them, "come out saying that they are..." an anguished sob comes from his chest, and he can't continue.

Joseph looks at McGee with tearfilled eyes, and then looks at the sandy floor. "When all hope is lost, there is still God.

_Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, _

_I will fear no evil: _

_for thou art with me; _

_thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."_

McGee frowns, as he had witnessed such steadfast faith in several occasions in the Buchanan household, but he personally had never embraced it. His whole life had been centered around his studies and search for knowledge, but nobody had ever showed him what is to believe in something or someone above the everyday struggles of life.

But then, when he thought about how life had been in the McGee household when he was growing up, it was an understatement that it was difficult to believe in a Benign God when you had to protect yourself from angry fists.

He had always been in awe of Joy's quiet faith, as despite her troubles she had always stubbornly kept going, regardless of how desperate the situation might seem in a given moment, and how weak she might feel, she kept going, stumbling and one step at a time.

"I... admire your faith, but I don't think I have what it takes. I don't even know if I believe in God."

Joseph smiles at the young man his daughter has chosen to share a life with, takes a twig, leans forward and draws a circle on the sand.

McGee frowns, as he can't figure out what that is supposed to mean. Once Joseph is finished, he supports his hands on his knees, and looks at McGee with wise eyes.

"This is the world we see, the natural world." He points to the area inside the circle, delimited by the line he had just drawn, "and this is the world that you can't see." He points to the area outside the circle, which starts from the rims of it and extended to the whole courtyard.

"Shakespeare once said, through Hamlet, _'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,Than are dreamt of in your philosophy_.' Just because you can't see it, it doesn't mean that it's not there. God is so limitless and boundless that it is beyond our ability to understand. And His willingness to shower us with his love is what makes him God. He takes us, flesh, frail and weak and loves us, unconditionally, despite our failings."

"You don't have to believe in God, McGee. I'll believe for both of us." McGee is touched by Joseph's simple words, and also by his accepting look at him as he stretches his hand and grasps McGee's in his, "Besides, it's enough that He believes in you."

They stay in silence for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts, until finally Joseph closes his eyes, "let's pray."

McGee fidgets a little, "I don't think I can."

Joseph chuckles, "Please, indulge an old man. Besides, it's easy. It's just like having a conversation."

_"Our Father, who art in heaven,_  
_hallowed be thy name."_


	58. An Explosive situation

a/n: Okay folks, as this chapter BEGS for a soundtrack, I couldn't resist it. Please, in order to enjoy it to its fullness, look up the following music at youtube: Immediate Music Def Con.

Believe me, the impact will be so much greater if you read it with the orchestra playing at the background.

* * *

**_CHAPTER 58: An Explosive situation_**

_Thy Kingdom come,_  
_thy will be done,_  
_on earth as it is in heaven_

Their first impression was darkness, followed by an oppressive heat that could almost smother them and a sizzling energy which seemed to be turning the air into a pressure cooker.

As soon as they materialize, they bend the glow sticks in their hands and throw it to the corners of the room where they are, their light blue glow finally illuminating the walls, shelves and equipment.

They were transported to an unused lab in SL35, exactly two floors above Maggie's. Once the light becomes enough for them to see each other, Joy takes the lifesign detector and checks the structure of the place they are. According to the schematics, the ventilation shafts going to the lower levels are behind the wall on her left.

They immediately drag the heavy cases to the other corner of the big lab, giving as much space as needed so they wouldn't get caught in the explosion. Ziva kneels by one of the cases, opens it, and gives Joy the laser weapon Jack has found in Maggie's lab. She then dugs into the case, separating small amounts of plastic explosives, enough to make a hole on the wall.

They don't speak, as oxygen is precious. Joy goes to the wall and, with the help of the lifesign detector, she chooses exactly where they want to acess the ventilation shaft. With her mom's laser weapon, she carefully drills holes on the wall, the weapon sizzling as it cuts through several inches of concrete. Once she has done eight holes in a rough circle, she takes a step back, and Ziva starts stuffing those holes with plastic explosives. As she finishes one, Joy would connect the wire which they could wrap together and connect with a timer.

Hopefully, once it blows, it would take only the weakened spot on the wall by the holes, not the entire wall.

At least, that was their theory.

They finish the preparations, Ziva sets the timer, and the two girls go to the other side of the lab, several feet away, hiding under an overturned oak desk.

"How long did you put on the timer."

"Just enough for us-"

The wall explodes, and their Geiger counters go mad.

Now, they are on the clock.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"We've just registered a small controlled explosion on the lab at SL35," says a technician studying the schematics of the base on the intelligent board of the Hammond.

Jack approaches him, and glances at Sam, "What are the levels of radiation in there?"

"High but not deadly. Yet. They need to get out in the next twelve minutes, sir."

Cam and Daniel look at each other, and then at the board, nervously waiting.

First explosion is a go. They are going down now.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Joy and Ziva drag the cases back close to the hole, opening two of them to get their much needed equipment out. Ziva put together the small pulley system connected to the engine, while Joy puts the ropes together and pass them through her harness belt so she can hurry down.

Once they've checked everything, Ziva nods to Joy who gets two glow sticks and throws one of them down the shaft. It falls for a long time, reaching the bottom and giving an eerie glow to the shaft.

She bends the other and once the light starts shining, she hangs it from one of her belt loops. She gets one the halogen flashlights, hangs it from her many carabiners and then starts the slow trek down.

Joy climbs down in total darkness several meters, only the faint light of the glow iluminating the rope directly in front of her. She stops every few feet once in a while to check where she is on the schematics with the lifesign detector. Once she reaches the dept where the SL37 is supposed to be, she checks it again and she feels her heart speeding up as it registers a feeble lifeform just across the concrete wall, a few feet away.

"Ziva, I've found her," her radio cracks with the interference of the radiation, but the Israeli hears her loud and clear.

Ziva then, with the help of another rope, lowers the laser. Joy drills the wall around the entrance for the EPA filters where the charges will be placed. After she is finished, she gives a tug on the rope; Ziva then fishes the laser weapon back and, in the same rope, lowers the bag with the plastic charges Joy will need to blow up the wall.

It's a delicate work, separating small portions of explosive and stuffing on the holes of the wall. Too little, and it wouldn't be enough to make the necessary damage to crack the wall. Too much, it could bring the whole upper floor down. So Joy, blinking against the sweat pooling on her forehead, kept careful watch of the amount of explosives she was stuffing in each hole, her glove protected fingers trying to feel the texture through the five protective layers.

She finishes the preparation, sets the timer and tugs the rope.

"I'm done!"

Ziva then turns on the engine of the small traction machine, and through the pulleys Joy is fished out of the ventilation shaft, much faster than if she tried to climb it on her own steam.  
Ziva grabs her shoulder when Joy is at arm's reach, and drags her to the floor of the lab.

"How much time?" Ziva asks, feeling sweat pooling inside the protective layers, drenching her back.

"Just enough to..."

Another explosion is heard.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Second explosion was registered on SL37," says the tech, glancing over his shoulder at the legendary SG1 team, both old and new, staring with concern at the map.

"Now the hard part begins," says Daniel.

Jack glances at him, who completes with a sad voice, "They will have to find out if she is dead or alive and... if she is alive, prepare her for the climb of three floors."


	59. Meanwhile in SL 37

a/n: Okay folks, another chapter, another musical piece to follow. Please look up at youtube the following music:**_ Immediate Music - with great Power (choir)._**

Believe me, the impact will be so much greater if you read it with the orchestra playing at the background.

* * *

**_CHAPTER 59: Meanwhile in SL 37_**

_Give us this day our daily bread._  
_And forgive us our trespasses,_  
_as we forgive those who trespass against us._

Joy slowly climbs down the ventilation shaft, towards the now open wall of the exobiology lab in SL37. Once there, she checks the size of the hole, and she is happy to notice that it is big enough for them to drag the case with the HazMat suits they need to put on Maggie. She struggles to fit her legs first through the hole, pushing herself with one hand while the other holds for dear life on the rope, which snags a little on the shaffed edge of concrete. She pushes harder, and the rope slides, making her tumble into the hole, hitting hard on the floor. She moans as she feels pain radiate from her shoulder, as the air tank clanks against the floor and bruises her back.

After a few seconds to regain her balance, she is once again on her feet; she immediately releases her buckle and lets go of the rope, giving a firm tug on it to indicate that she is free to Ziva.

Ziva immediately collects the rope, in order to attach it to the case with the things they will need to prepare Maggie for the transport through the ventilation shaft.

Joy turns on the halogen flashlight and checks her geiger counter, which is registering a constant rate of radiation, but none that could kill on long term.

Just enough to make you miserably sick for several weeks.

She illuminates the lab in front of her, and she is surprised at the size of it, as it is permeated with several rows of delicate potplants, one more exotic than the other, all of them now tumbled one over the other due to the explosion.

She tries to go around the shelves, glances at her lifesign detector and freezes, as she finds one tiny blue dot blinking just a few feet further ahead from herself. She lifts the halogen flashlight, illuminating further down the aisles of the lab, until the blue eerie light reaches a white lab coat close to the door.

"MOM!"

Joy runs, jumping over the overturned shelves as fast as the HazMat and the heavy air tank allows her to, and finally kneels beside the prostate form of Maggie Buchanan. Joy feels like weeping as sees the blood coming from her mother's nose and ears, and how still she seems to be.

Yet, according to the lifesign detector, she still lives.

She turns her mother on her back, and immediately starts unbuttoning her lab coat, wiping her wet hair away from her forehead with a gentle touch of her gloved hand.

"Joy, can you hear me?"

"I've found her, Zee. She's alive, but she won't be for long if we don't do something."

"The case is almost on your level, after you get it I'm coming down."

"Okay."

Joy leaves her glow stick by her mother's face, and rushes to get the case Dr. Mallard had prepared for them.

She groans as she drags it through the hole, and slowly unties the knots Ziva had made to keep it stead while going down the shaft.

"Do you have it?"

"Yeah, I'll see you in a sec, I'll need your help to prepare her."

She releases the ropes, which Ziva immediately ties to one of the rope stoppers to keep it still. She uses another rope, this one fixed to a hook she specially put on the wall, and climbs down the shaft, feeling her hand gripping with difficulty thanks to the lack of sensibility due to the gloves one on top of the other.

Finally she reaches the right level, and crawls through the hole. She gets four glow sticks and bends them, making a small trail of light between the hole and where Joy is already undressing her mother.

Joy offers one of the decontamination gel pots to Ziva, who grabs one knife and starts slicing Maggie's leggings, while Joy rips the bra and gets her upper body free of her clothes.

"Time?"

"Five minutes." Joy says after a quick glance on the watch, and starts rubbing the heated gel all over. She uses a generous amount on her mother's face, neck, going down to her shoulders while Ziva rubs all over Maggie's legs.

Joy keeps throwing glances at her Geiger watch, which has steadily increased its beeping.

"Problem?"

"Not yet."

Ziva gets the first layer of the Tyvek suit open and lays it on the floor, and signals to Joy so both women so slowly turn Maggie onto it. Then they start rubbing the gel on her back, on her buttocks and her legs.

There's no time to make jokes about Maggie's ouroborus tattoo on the dip of her back, or on the scars that made fine lines on her thighs.

There was no time.

"Do you have more of this?" Ziva shows that her pot is empty, and Joy promptly gets another container and passes it to Ziva, who rubs them all over Maggie's feet while Joy carefully covers her mother's hair with the gel, before protecting it with a net. She finally leaves her mother's side and gets the SCBA mask, the air tanks and the beacon which will be used to locate them once they are on the upper floor.

"Help me turn her, Zee."

Both women turn Maggie gently into the Tyvek suit, and start buttoning her up. Joy adjusts the oxygen mask, slowly releasing the precious air and ensuring that Maggie has a steady flow of oxygen for the trip up. She then fixes one of the transport beacons in one of the Tyvek suit pockets, which Sam will use to lock on them to get them the hell out of there. Once they are done with that suit, they adjust the air tanks position, in order to ensure that the masks over Maggie's nose and mouth are correctly working, checking to see if the air is running okay.

Satisfied, Ziva gets the second suit, and slowly puts Maggie's legs on them, and Joy lifts her mother's hips from the floor so the Israeli can pass the full body suit under her. Once the lower part is done, Joy starts working on the upper body part, putting her mom's flabby arms into the full containment suit. She closes the Velcro and glances at Ziva, who got another suit to put on top of that.

Both women are sweating profusely, the faint blue light from the glow sticks and halogen flashlights giving a ghostly atmosphere to the room.

Their time was running out.

"Done!" Ziva shouts triumphant as she finishes the last layer of protection. Joy gives her one of the waist harnesses so she can put Maggie's legs through, while Joy struggles with her mother's upper torso, attaching carefully the air tanks on her mom's back with tight straps. She adds another torso harness, and both woman half drag, half carry Maggie's limp body to the hole on the wall.

"I'm going first with the fixed rope, then when I'm up there we fish your mom out, okay? After that, we get you out of here."

"Deal, go," Joy kneels before Maggie and starts attaching her to the several safety carabiners and rope stoppers of the first rope, the one she used to climb down, while Ziva climbs up with the fixed rope, with an astonishing agility, despite the weight of the air tanks and of the tight squeeze of the Hazmat suits. She takes the one of the glow sticks and attaches it on the harness loops, just in case.

In a very short time, Ziva was already on the other floor, she gives a shake to the rope, to indicate that she is ready to roll.

Joy finishes the last knots on her mom's fishing line, and for a brief moment, lifts her face and illuminates inside her viewport.

Maggie looks dead, with a faint sheen of sweat mixing with several layers of decontamination gel they've smeared all over her, and there's a faint trickle of blood coming out of her nose.

"Hang in there, mom," Joy whispers, as she slowly guides Maggie through the hole until she is hanging in the ventilation shaft while Ziva keeps monitoring her progress up, working on the small engine which is pulling her up.

Joy pokes her head out of the hole, observing the faint silluette of her mother going up in the little light of the glow stick, but she freezes when she hear a sound in the room behind her.  
She turns around, running her halogen flashlight all over the extent of the lab, trying to find the source of such noise.

She glances at the life sign detector: there's nothing in there. She frowns as she hears the noise again.

There's something in there with her.

And it's just beyond the door.


	60. Invisible war

a/n: Another chapter, another track, this one is: Immediate Music - Clash of Titans.

Believe me, the impact will be so much greater if you read it with the orchestra playing at the background.

* * *

**_CHAPTER 60: Invisible war_**

Battle was exactly what every angelic warrior was made for.

The Host of Heaven had waited so long to strike down those who dared to hurt those innocent children that when the signal finally came, they left their hiding places and rolled over the valley like a violent, shimmering ocean wave, destroying every single creature of darkness that dared cross its path.

Tal led the attack, his sword drawn and ready, as he dove like a hawk on the bubbling mass of demons that had destroyed so many innocents in the beginning of their lives.

He sliced, kicked and cut those who dared try to stop him, in his mission to help the humans on the police car driving bellow them.

He made a twist on the air, kicked a nasty spirit that clung to his feet and sunk its teeth on his leg, before slicing it as a hot knife on butter.

Once free, he sped up, and shouted to be overheard over the clang of swords, "Nathan, Scion, protect them! I'm on my way to Benton's farm!" With this order, he called four of his trusted soldiers, and quickly flew towards the place where the kids were hidden.

Two huge angels with tanned skin and huge maniac smiles on their faces sliced more three creatures, before diving further below and flipping, flying parallel to the car and cleaning its path of all demonic attack. More angels soon joined them, and the car drove fast towards the petrol station, without any interference of the swarming cloud trying to attack them.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Gideon and D'Amadeo leave the car in a hurry and study the gas station. It was a normal gas station like any other in America, with a peeling painted board showing the prices on it. D'Amadeo, along with Clay, enter to talk with Jeb, the old owner, leaving Gideon outside.

In his mind's eye, Gideon can see Maggie's stopping the car, turning around to talk to the girls and leaving both girls inside, as she puts the gas on. He can literally see Joy staring with glazed eyes outside the window, while Hope made retouches on her makeup. Maggie would then walk towards the shop, leaving both girls alone in the car.

"He was already here," says Nathan behind him, watching the FBI agent as he studies the scene replaying in his mind.

"He was already here," says Gideon, and he starts walking towards the place where he imagined Maggie's car would be. Nathan walks around him and blocks his path, making him stop. With his sword, he makes a reflex that catches Gideon's eye, forcing to look down.

Gideon frowns as the reflex of something hits his eyes, and when he looks down he sees something that catches his attention. He lowers to the floor and his fingers touch a delicate gold necklace, with a small red pepper hanging from it.

He closes his eyes as he remembers that first morning at the Buchanan household, and that same necklace was hanging from Hope's neck as she saucily studied him up and down.

He was on the right path.

He gets the necklace in his hands and pockets it, feeling his heartbeat speeding up as he feels that he's onto something.

"But where did he take them?" He mutters, and he doesn't see Nathan staring at the other side of the highway, where some abandoned houses were.

Nathan smiles when he sees a man being escorted by Mota and Signa, two massive warriors who had their drawn swords in hand, poking the demon hanging from the man's neck with their swords, forcing him towards the open courtyard where he would be easily seen by the Fed.

Gideon lifts his eyes from the necklace and sees a man in dirty overalls and shifty eyes looking at him from across the road. Once he realizes that he was caught, he turns and tries run, just to suddenly freeze as if he had hit a solid wall.

"HEY, WAIT!" Gideon runs towards the man, finding him staring ahead as if he was terrified of something.

"I just need to ask you some questions," the man rigidly turns staring at him for a second, before his gaze falls over Gideon's shoulder, acquiring an expression of terror that is hard to ignore.

Gideon studies the man for a minute, as his eyes shift from over Gideon's shoulders on the left then to a point to the right.

"A crime has been committed over there," he points to the gas station, and approaches the man, who recoils but doesn't take a step back. "I just need to ask you some questions."  
The demon covers the man's mouth with its filthy hands, trying to prevent his human of speaking.

"Uhm…"

Scion lifts his sword and touches the demon's face with it, "You will move your hand, or will I have to cut it off?"

The demon shivering moves its hand, but he sinks his claws at the man's back, making him lean as if in pain. Both angels lift their swords and touch the demon with their tips, making the demon cry out with the burning the blades create on its leathery skin.

"You will tell him what he wants to know. Everything, and you will not leave anything out," says Nathan, his wings unfurled and covering Gideon, who was staring at the man with a frown on his face.

Gideon finally realizes where he had seen that zoned out expression before, and approaches him slowly, as if talking to a scared deer, "You can see them too, can't you?"

The man's shifty eyes finally rest on Gideon, and for the first time in his life, Gideon sees something that would change the way he would lead his life from that point forward.


	61. Pain

Soundtrack for this chapter:Heavens Warrior [Choir] - Immediate Music

* * *

**_CHAPTER 61: Pain_**

Back in Benton's farm, inside the barn, Hope was crying low, as she ran her fingers through the sweaty bangles of the whimpering girl's hair. She didn't dare glance at Joy's hips, where weeping cigarette burns were still fresh, from where the monster hurt her sister, before leaving with another little boy, who was so weak that he didn't have the strenght to resist the monster's arms.

Joy kept her eyes closed, her little hands in tight fists, as she tried to think of everything but the burns. She had been through worst. And she had survived.

She didn't belong to the Master anymore.

She belonged to Mommy and Daddy. She had a name. And Daddy said that she also belonged to a bigger Daddy yet, that was in the songs they sang in church and that made the warriors dance whenever the notes started to play.

That Daddy would look after her.

"Why did you do that? Why did you irritate him so?"

Joy opens her eyes and looks at Hope, "Because I've known people like them. They are like monsters, who feed from fear. They only hit until you cry. If you don't cry, they don't have power over you."

Hope rubs her hand over her nose, staring at the maturity in her sister's eyes and getting scared of he old soul in them.

She had never even imagined that the mute girl had been through so much. But then, she had never given herself the chance of trying to find out anything about her.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

She thinks back of when the bad man came into the barn, took one of the boys from the left and took him to the middle of the barn. He slapped the boy repeatedly, before lighting his cigarette. He laughed when the boy screamed and wetted his filthy pants again when he touched the soft skin of his hip with the lit cigarette.

Once he reduced the little boy to a whimpering mass, he dragged the bleeding boy to his cage. He then slowly approached the cage where the two girls were kept, and knelt before them, "What do we have here?"

He studies the terrified looks Hope was throwing at him, but he frowns at the almost defiant glare the brunette was staring at him.

"We have two beautiful girls. So beautiful, so perfect. Do you want to play with uncle Ed?"

He opened the cage door and, between the girls, his gaze rested in Hope, who tried to make herself even smaller in the corner. He smiled a devious smile, and stretched his hand to grab the blond girl.

Just to be attacked by the growling brunette, who attached herself to his arm and bit into the soft flesh of the arm.

Hard.

He screamed in pain tried to dislodge the girl hitting her in the head with this open palm, but it only made the girl tighten her bite, until she drew blood.

He growled at her, and punched her hard, finally dislodging her. She spat out the blood, while he stared at her with hatred. After a moment, he grabbed her by the hair, dragging her out of the cage, whimpering in pain as he carried her to the middle of the barn.

Hope started to scream, but he had slammed the door of the cage, locking it after him, so she could only scream at him, begging him not to hurt her sister.

But he ignores her as he drops Joy unceremoniously on the floor, grabs her pants and lowers them, holding her down with one of his big hands over her tummy.

She twists and fights his hold, sinking her nails in his arm, but he is bigger than her. He lits another cigarette, and starts laughing as he lowers the lit cigarette towards the vulnerable skin of her hips.

Joy bites her lips and refuses to cry out in pain, and when she stares at his face, she notices the dark shape laughing over his shoulder, its leathery wings unfurled, the red cat like eyes staring at her with glee. Its mouth had a caricature of a smile, as its lips stretched over huge yellow fangs.

It was the Master of the Pit.

He had found her.

The lit cigarette touches her skin.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Joy lifts a hand and wipes Hope's tears from her face, "Evil has never touched you. I didn't want it to touch you too."

Hope sobs, as she looks at the bleeding mess on her sister's legs, at the bruises in format of fingers on her tummy, legs and arms, and the broken lip and red welts on her face, "But now you're hurt."

"But I've been touched by evil before. It knows me. More scars won't make any difference."

She sits down, grimacing at the pain at her side. But there's no time for feeling sorry for oneself.

"Now, we have to find a way out of here."

She looks around the barn where they are, the weak light of single bulbs hanging from the ceiling gave it a morbid air. The constant buzzing of creatures had dimmed, as all of them had left the inside of the barn and flew as a swarm of bees outside the structure, as if attracted by something that Joy had no idea what it was, leaving all the kids alone in their cages.

Several years before, this place had been bustling with life, with cows and horses being carefully tended by the Benton's family. But the old Roger died, his son had no interest in farm life and left the place fall apart, until he killed himself while been hit in a motorcycle accident. Leaving the farm for Ed Benton, a far away cousin, who decided to use the farm for his extracurricular activities.

"Did you see where he put the keys?"

Hope approaches Joy, who is looking out of the cage, and points to a hook in one of the columns holding the place up. There, the keys of the cages were hanging, a small beacon of freedom.

It's too far away for her to reach, so she sighs, tired and in pain and closes her eyes.

"You really didn't think that I would leave you hanging, did you, little one?"

She opens her eyes and smiles brightly as she sees the friendly face before herself, a face she was afraid she would never see again.

"GUILO!"


	62. Sometimes there is a good reason

Soundtrack for this chapter:Final Omen 2.0 [Choir] - Immediate Music

* * *

**_Chapter 62: Sometimes there is a good reason to freak out_**

**_PRESENT DAY_**

**_SL37_**

Joy slowly turns around, illuminating the back of the lab, the floor was filled with plants and fresh earth, as the pots were overturned with the initial blast to get through the wall. The faint red emergency lights mixed with the glaring light of the glowsticks which illuminated the room, creating an eerie atmosphere that gave Goosebumps on her skin, despite the fact that she was sweating buckets and she could feel her Tyvek suit clinging to her skin.

She slowly approaches the spot where she found her mother, her halogen flashlight investigating every corner of the lab, but, except for the plants, there's nothing there.

And the plants are not read into the life signal reader.

"No reason to freak out, Joy," she mutters to herself, as she takes another step towards the sealed door, and her Geiger counter watch simply goes crazy, beeping informing that the radiation is too much beyond what was set as parameter. She turns around, but movement behind the small window on the sealed lab door catches her attention. She lifts the flashlight to illuminate the small window, and there's nothing there.

She glances at the life sign reader: it keeps indicating that there's nothing there.

She lifts her flashlight again, and almost jumps out of her skin.

There's someone outside the door, her closed fist hitting the window. But there's something wrong with her, as her skin was almost translucent showing bulging blue veins underneath, and the face was covered with boils weeping disgusting things.

The eyes, once some human color, were completely white, and its mouth was open as if screaming, but Joy could see other boils had formed inside the mouth as well.

Joy looks again at the life reader, and there's nothing in there.

"Okay, freak out time," she says in a shaking voice, and runs back to the hole in the wall.

"ZIVA, GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Two minutes," says the tech, glancing at the General who was staring at the schematics of the base. Carter was standing by his side, both of them sharing the same worry about the people down below Nellis.

"Just give them the time," says Jack, his jaw tight as he feels Goosebumps appearing on his arms.

Something was wrong.

And their time is running out.


	63. A special meeting

Soundtrack for this chapter: Casting Crowns Praise You In The Storm

A/N: SPECIAL SUNDAY UPDATES! McGee has an amazing experience.

* * *

**_Chapter 63: A special meeting_**

_And lead us not into temptation,_  
_but deliver us from evil._

McGee's voice falters as they reaches those lines, and for some reason is as if a dam is broken, and all the pain and despair he had felt during the whole night explodes, leaving him a sobbing mess. His heart constricts with pain, and he gasps as he tries to speak, trying to transmit all the fear and love he held in his heart to this someone that Joseph believed so much.

_When all hope is gone, there's still God. _

So simple, so true.

But how one can find this God? And why this God would bother to look down to a man like him, Timothy McGee?

Was he even worth of this amazing love that Joseph had told him about?

Did God really believe in ... him?

He weeps, feeling his doubts and pain clouding his mind, and cries out in his heart to the Lord, silently asking forgiveness for ignoring Him for so long, but he had never known Him, nor has ever been properly introduced to Him.

Finally, he feels a peace that surpasses all understanding, and he literally feels as strong hands are laid around his shoulder, while fresh wind flows around them bringing hope and peace to their hearts.

But wait a minute,_ there are_ strong hands resting on his shoulders.

He feels confused for a brief moment, as Joseph's hands are still tightly holding his.

Joseph starts singing in a deep tenor voice, his eyes still closed, as tears freely fall down his face, and McGee lifts tear stained eyes to look up who is by his side.

_I was sure by now, God, that You would have reached down  
and wiped our tears away,  
stepped in and saved the day.  
But once again, I say amen  
and it's still raining  
as the thunder rolls  
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,  
"I'm with you"  
and as Your mercy falls  
I raise my hands and praise  
the God who gives and takes away._

McGee frowns as he sees a man with deep tanned skin, in clothes completely incongruent with the BDU clad soldiers running around the base. His eyes were kind, and looked at him as He knew all the deepest secrets he held close to his heart.

"Ah… uhm…"

"They are not alone, Timothy. I'm with them."

_And I'll praise you in this storm  
and I will lift my hands  
for You are who You are  
no matter where I am  
and every tear I've cried  
You hold in your hand  
You never left my side_

"Who are you?"

He smiles and McGee felt as if his heart was burning with the kindness in that glance.

"You know exactly who I am."

_and though my heart is torn  
I will praise You in this storm_


	64. Gut feelings never lie

Soundtrack for this chapter: Dies Irae - Immediate Music

**_Chapter 64: Gut feelings never lie_**

Joy rushes to the hole, gets the ropes Ziva had lowered to her and fixes it in her harness with trembling hands. She hangs her halogen flashlight to her one of the carabiners of her harness, fixes the ascenders in the proper place and starts climbing the ropes with shaking hands, eager to get out of that lab and be as far as possible from that thing growling at the other side of the door. Ziva has also fixed the rope to the small machine, which is slowly fishing the agent out of the ventilation shaft.

Joy is slowly feeling the rope vibrate as it goes up steadily; it works fine for a few yards before the machine starts smoking and stops working completely, leaving an angry Ziva cursing it in Hebrew, and a desperate Joy hanging with several feet yet to go up before she reaches the safety of the room at SL35.

There's a dull noise in the floor below, and the geiger starts screaming, informing that the radiation spiked in dangerous levels.

As the engine is gone, Joy now has to climb the rope on her own strength. Her shoulder is killing her, the gloves are not appropriate for such activity, not helping her to grasp the rope well. She finally gets a climbing hammer hanging from one of her carabiners, attached to her waist harness, and finally slowly advances towards the room in SL 35, while Ziva starts pulling the rope to help her up.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

"One minute," says McKay, staring at his laptop, his fingers opening and closing, trying to decide what to touch first.

Col. Sheppard walks up to Gibbs and Tony, who are all staring at the hologram in which they could only imagine where the two NCIS agents and Maggie were at that exact moment.

"Something is wrong," says Gibbs, his jaw tight with the nervous energy pumping around him.

"How do you know that?" asks John, studying Gibbs's face that is creased with worry.

"My gut," Gibbs says between clenched teeth, and hurries to the radio desk.

"General, you have to get them out of there," he says, knowing that O'Neill would respond to his demand.

"Not yet," came the short retort in a clipped voice.

"Something is wrong!" Gibbs is already shouting at the General, as he feels his gut twisting in the familiar way that happens when one of his kids are in deep trouble.

"Don't you think I know? Newsflash. I know! But I won't get two of them out and leave one of them behind. You are a marine, you know that. We don't leave a man behind. Or woman. Or... ahh you know what I'm talking about. I'm giving them until the last second," says O'Neill, resolute.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Ziva, get out of here!" Joy throws a glance at her Geiger watch, which was beeping desperately.

Their time was over, now they would be on borrowed time.

"Not without you! Never without you! Come on." Ziva makes much more effort and pulls the rope a few more inches up.

"I won't make it. Go." Joy says in a choked voice, as she feels her shoulders sagging and her arms shaking with the effort of climbing.

"No Way." She pulls the rope another foot up, "I won't survive and have to face McGee knowing I've left you here."

Joy takes a deep breath and keeps crawling up, her shoulder giving her a hard time.

There is a noise downstairs, some kind of screeching that brings shivers to both women.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" shouts Ziva, and Joy simply closes her eyes and climbs another few inches up.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Can you identify whose signal you have?" Daniel approaches the tech, who was studying the locking mechanism of the transport.

"No we can't. We have two signals, and there's a faint one, but we can't lock in it yet."

"Ahhh for crying out loud, come on, Joy! Get your ass out of there!" shouts Jack furiously at the screen.


	65. Friends in high and low places

**_Soundtrack for this chapter: Immediate music - Europa_**

**_Chapter 65: Friends in high and low places  
_**

Joy climbs another few feet and glances down, and she almost shriek in fear when she sees the head of a woman, no, creature, with bleeding boils looking up through the hole in the wall.

"Ziva!"

"I've got you!" Ziva grabs Joy's left arm and starts dragging her up. But Joy is heavy, thanks to the several layers of the suits and the oxygen tank.

Joy's eyes were fixed on the strange creature studying them with white eyes, opening its mouth and screeching again.

"ZIVA!"

Ziva's arm is shaking with the effort of holding on to Joy. Joy is struggling to climb a few more inches, trying to support herself on her legs against the wall irregularities and with the rope, but it's a great effort. The thing down the shaft shrieks again and Joy tries to climb another feet.

Ziva's grasp is starting to fail, and Joy tries to hold on to the rope, then suddenly her right arm is grasped by a hand.

She looks surprised at it, as Ziva's both hands are holding her left arm, so who is holding her right arm?

She finally looks up, finding strong muscular hands with perfect filed nails holding on to her arm. Her gaze goes up to very muscular tanned arms, with tendons and muscles that would literally kill of envy any bodybuilder, and finally her gaze goes up a little bit more just to find a beautiful tanned face with smiling eyes looking down at her.

"We really have to stop meeting like that, little one."

Joy feels breathless for a moment, and her eyes fill with tears.

"Guilo?"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Ziva is surprised when suddenly Joy's weight becomes almost nothing, and she can easily lift Joy out of the pit, dragging her away from the hole on the wall.

Both women fall in a mess of limbs on the floor, right beside where Ziva left Maggie. She glances at Joy breathless, hissing with the effort, and notices that Joy is staring at something on the corner of the wall.

"Joy?"

Joy gaze floats around the room, lying on her mom for a second, before finally resting on Ziva's face, and there's an awed glint to it that she can't really figure out the reason why.

The thing down the shaft shrieks again, and the rope starts moving, as if something is climbing up on it.

"SAM, GET US OUT OF HERE!" Both women shout in unissono.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Get them out of there," growls Jack, looking at the now three blinking lights on the screen.

"We're trying," says the transport technician, typing furiously at his station.

"Just do it." Cam is looking at Jack and Daniel, feeling the tension filling the room as a mantle.

"I can't get a lock!" says the tech, prompting Sam to rush to his side and start working furiously to save the three people waiting for their transport out of that hell.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Joy glances nervously at the rope which is dancing as if something is climbing on it, then looks around until her gaze rests on the box of tools they've brought with them. Ziva understands what she wants and runs to it, gets a knife, rushes to the rope and struggles to cut of rope.

"COME ON."

NICS NCIS NICS

"I DID IT!"

Ziva cuts the rope, at the same time they are engulfed by light and are transported out of there.


	66. Final Battle

**_Chapter 66: Final Battle_**

**_"Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed." G.K. Chesterton_**

Tiny shaking hands held the keys firmly, slipping it in the lock and freeing the kids in the cage, before running to the next one.

Hope looked at the tall men who were gently bathing the kids, anointing their burns with some kind of oil before putting new clean clothes on them, cradling the weeping children to their chests.

Soon they would go to the next in the line, and they were slowly getting the kids ready to run away.

"Who are you?" Hope finally asks one of them, a tall tanned man, in jeans and red plaid shirt, softly bathing Jonah's sweaty face, trying to bring his fever down.

Guilo looks up from the boy's face, to glance at the little girl staring at him, folded arms and looking at him with a confused expression on her face.

Guilo grins widely, and Joy snickers a little as she hears the question, and runs to the next cage, unlocking it.

"Consider me your best friend ever tonight."

He stands up, the little boy in a comfortable position in his arms, and glances at the other soldiers, "We need to go; the battle will soon reach here."

The other soldiers took the most debilitated children in their arms, while they grabbed the hands of the other kids, rushing out of the barn, hearing the noise of swords clacking to each other over their heads.

They run towards the trees.

NICS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Clay drives his pickup quickly through the trail towards Benton's farm, followed by three other police cars he had called for backup.

D'Amadeo and Gideon hold themselves with white knuckles to their seats, as Clay drives over another pothole. Gideon clenches his jaw, but doesn't complain, as now time is the essence.

Old Jeb's assistant, Donnie, after a little bit of poking and prodding told the agents that yes, he had seen the car of the Reverend's wife stopping for gas. He also told them that Old Ed, from Benton's farm, approximately five miles away on a trail going west, came up and took the girls from the car, dragged them to his Chevy truck and left, all of that without their mother seeing it.

Now they were on their way towards Benton's farm, eager to save the children.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The battle raged incessantly over Benton's farm, the fiery swords cutting leathery flesh and preparing the way for the cars coming towards the farm.

Tal and his soldiers cut, dipped, twisted and attacked again, trying to keep the thick of the battle over the farm, distracting them of the desperate figures escaping towards the woods to the west.

He finally sees the dust of the incoming police cars, and points to the ground where the Chevy car was going to another road leaving the farm, "Don't let him escape!"

Four angels separated from the thick of the battle and charged against the boiling living mass of demons surrounding the car, some huge creatures tackling the heavenly warriors to the floor.

A roar came out of it, echoing through the prairie and making the black spirits even more daring. A black mass floated out of it, opening its big leathery wings and covering the whole car, staring at heavenly hosts with hate and anger as they battled his minions.

Tal looks down, towards the cars approaching the farm, and makes a fast dive, cutting and slicing everyone and everything that dared stop on his way, his war cry increasing in volume as he aims to a block of demons that are steadily approaching the cars.

He hits them as a bowling ball in a ten pin game, tackling them all to the floor, cleaning the path for the speeding cars to make a steep curve without accidents. One of the demons still tries to stand up and follow them, but he is quickly dispatched to the burning lake with a fast flash of an angelical sword.

Tal leaves the ones still fighting for his warriors who hurry up to cover for him, and takes flight again, hovering over the cars and pointing his sword over the windshield, making a small reflection into the car.

The sunlight hits Clay's eyes, and he by chance turns his eyes to the right. At that exact moment, he notices another unpaved road to the right, where a cloud of dust is floating.

Their perp was running away.

He points the cloud of dust to Gideon, who nods in agreement before Clay makes a sharp turn on the steering wheel, almost making the jeep drive on two wheels, before he starts advancing towards the cloud. He talks on the radio with the two other cars, ordering them to continue towards the farm, but he will follow the perp.

He will not escape this time.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The Chevy Truck loses its way and hits a tree in the bend of the road, and steam starts coming out of its engine. A man leaves the car, and starts running towards the sparse trees that marked the woods on the border of his farm with his neighbor.

Clay's stops his car and Gideon and D'Amadeo immediately jump out of the truck, rushing after him. D'Amadeo peeks inside the truck, and there's a big backpack on the backseat.

And there's a tiny hand peeking out from inside it.

"I've got one of the kids here," he shouts to Gideon, who runs with his weapon drawn after Ed, who keeps running and jumping trying to escape.

"FBI, FREEZE."

Gideon aims and shoots, but Ed Benton dives to the side at the very last minute, landing on the floor.

Clay and Gideon runs forward, both pointing their guns and the man on the floor stands up, staring at them with hatred.

"You can't stop me! I shall rise again!"

"It's over, Ed," shouts Clay, his finger in the trigger.

Gideon takes another step, "We want to know where you've hidden the children."

"Don't you understand? I was only following orders! They were perfect! He wanted them perfect!" Ed shouts, staring at the cops, "I've just made them prettier! They now belong to my Master!"

"They belong to their parents, Ed. Now only one more time, where are the kids?"

Ed starts laughing; his laughter taking a sinister turn as it echoes through the woods and reaches the two agents.

"They are nowhere. And everywhere. You won't ever find them all. They are with my master!" He shouts and takes another step back.

"Ed, I need your help. They don't belong to your master."

"NOOO." Ed turns around, terrified with something he's seen behind the agents, starting to run in the opposite direction. Gideon points his gun and pulls the trigger. Ed stumbles with the impact and falls, crumbling down and landing in a mess on the floor, hitting his head on the exposed root of a tree and twisting for a moment.

He doesn't move after that.

Gideon and Clay rush to his side, but they notice that there's nothing to do for him.

The exposed root had a protuberance on it, and it had perforated Ed's head like a ripe melon when he fell head first on it.

Gideon sighs at the loss of human life, but then his gaze falls on a small mound of earth beside the root where Ed has just died. He walks towards it, and with his bare hands he starts moving the earth and leaves from it. He freezes for a moment when he unearths something that would haunt him for many years after that.

It's the small bony hand of a child.

Clay walks to Gideon, and stares at his finding and in an instinctive move looks around the woods.

Nowhere. Everywhere.

Ed's words haunt their minds as they hold their breath as their meaning starts unfolding before their very shocked eyes. Gideon slowly lifts his eyes and stares around himself, in the same manner Clay was doing.

There are mounds of earth – several of them – scattered through out woods. As far as the eye can see.


	67. A Gift of God

Soundtrack - Immediate Music - For Honor And Glory

Soundtrack - Immediate Music - Believe

**

* * *

**

_**Chapter ****67: A Gift of God**_

_God may be subtle, but he isn't plain mean. _**- Albert Einstein**

_They said the birds refused to sing and the thermometer fell suddenly as if God Himself had His breath stolen away. No one there dared speak aloud, as much in shame as in sorrow. They uncovered the bodies one by one. The eyes of the dead were closed as if waiting for permission to open them. Were they still dreaming of ice cream and monkey bars? Of birthday cake and no future but the afternoon? Or had their innocence been taken along with their lives buried in the cold earth so long ago? These fates seemed too cruel, even for God to allow. Or are the tragic young born again when the world's not looking? I want to believe so badly; in a truth beyond our own hidden and obscured from all but the most sensitive eyes... In the endless procession of souls... in what cannot and will not be destroyed. I want to believe we are unaware of God's eternal recompense and sadness. That we cannot see His truth. That that which is born still lives and cannot be buried in the cold earth. But only waits to be born again at God's behest... where in ancient starlight we lay in repose. - _**_SA Fox Mulder in Closure_**

It is hard to define what makes the Earth go round or what, due to its power to shakes us to our very core, happens in that infinitesimal moment in time when time seems to stop due to a tragedy that our feeble minds struggle to understand, yet fail to grasp the reality presented so harshly before our eyes.

Gideon felt as he was stuck in one of those moments, as he stood up and looked around that small section of the woods, his heart slowly constricting to a third of its normal size, leaving a bleeding and empty vacuum in its place.

The magnitude of the crimes committed by this now soulless body by his feet, and the sheer number of victims struck him mute, robbing him of his ability to breathe as his mind was assaulted with tormented visions of what these poor children had suffered, how they died, and for a brief glimpse, how they lived.

He revisited in his mind the faces of the children they had profiled, as well as their hopeful parents who cried during their interviews, begging him to give them closure to an unspeakable pain that turned them into emotional cripples.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and his mind was assaulted by the image of Maggie Buchanan's face, screaming and crying, shouting to the heavens for the safe return of her girls. Her beautiful girls.

He hears the sound of feet approaching - Clay speaking to his deputies who came back from the original crime scene, the farm house - he could vaguely hear their report that they've found the place empty, with signs that the children had been, sometime in the past, held there.

But they were gone now.

Maybe they were in one of those shallow graves peppered around the woods.

He is reminded of Hope's saucy smile, the twinkle in her eye as she pronounced him to be a door-to-door bookseller, not an FBI agent. Then huge expressive brown eyes staring into his, briefly glancing over his shoulder to something only those eyes could see, before returning to him.

"Jonah?" Clay's voice sounded incredulous; as if he couldn't believe what his eyes were showing him.

Gideon opened his eyes and followed the direction of Clay's gaze, towards the deepest part of the woods, where a lonely figure of a boy supporting himself against a tree could be seen.

"JONAH!" Clay's shout was filled with astonishment, as he ran towards the boy several feet away, who finally could not support his own weight and fell, just to land in the strong arms of Glasgow's sheriff.

While Clay checked the downed boy, Gideon felt a strange electricity in the air, as small shadows of children came out of the mist, as if they were ghosts trespassing from another plane into the mortal one, and as they became visible the shouts of the deputies could be heard throughout the woods, asking for more light or blankets.

One lone figure catches his attention, the blond bangles and the white porcelain skin could not be mistaken with anyone else.

"HOPE!" His shout startled her, who looked into his direction frowning, confused. But soon, her pixie face opened in a big smile, and she started running towards him.

"Mr. Bookseller! You came!"

Gideon felt his heart hammering into his chest, alive again, as he ran towards the little pixie and knelt on the floor, just to be almost tackled down by her momentum.

"I was so afraid. The bad man was awful, he hurt Jonah, the other boy too, and..."

"Hope, it's over. It's over." She started crying, big sobs rocking her body, and he simply gathered her into his arms and consoled her. As her crying fit was over, he held her by her shoulders, forcing her to look into his face.

"Hope, where is Joy?"

Hope's face crunched again, but Gideon needed answers, "Where is she?"

"He hurt her, yes he did. She was bleeding and I didn't know what to do." She lowered her head towards her chest and sobbed.

"It's okay, sweetie. You're just a kid. Now tell me, where did you leave her?"

"Leave her? I didn't leave her. She's over there," she points to a place further down in the woods, much darker than the one where they are, "Her friend is with her."

That was a surprise for Gideon, "What friend?"

"I don't know, but he came and opened the cages, and brought us out of the barn to the woods. She stayed behind to talk to him."

Gideon stood up and carried Hope to one of the deputies, giving him orders to look after the reverend's daughter, before venturing further into the woods. After a few yards, the noise of the deputies and the children faded, leaving only the sound of the dead leaves under his feet and the occasional owl chirping from its hiding place on a higher branch.

"Joy, where are you?" Gideon shouted, his eyes running over the big expense of woods before him, trying to spot the missing little girl. His eyes caught some movement further ahead, and he ran a few more feet, finally stopping beside a huge fir.

He supported his hand against the dark bark, and saw when a tiny hand appeared from behind a huge tree several yards to the left, followed by a dirt streaked face.

Her hair was a rat's nest, her curls in a wild mess with twigs and leaves stuck to it. Her olive skin had imprint marks of a hand, and one of her eyes was almost closed. Her lip was cut, and dried blood was encrusted on her left cheek.

Her skinny hands and legs were bruised, and there was blood slowly running from somewhere on her side down her t-shirt, which covered until the middle of her thighs.

And still she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Joy," he whispered, approaching her slowly, noticing the watchfulness and weariness on her gaze as she looked at him.

When he was just a few feet from her, she left the protection of the tree and walked a few steps back, forcing Gideon to go around the tree to follow her.

"Where are you-"

Gideon was struck mute then, when he sees the little girl walking slowly towards someone, who held out his hand and she took his little pinkie in her small hand.

Gideon suddenly felt his legs couldn't support him and he immediately fell on his knees, astonished before the apparition in front of him.

His skin was bronze all over, his clothing so white that it was hard to look directly at it, such was the glorious shine emitted by it. The being opened its majestic wings, its wingspan occupying the whole clearing.

One of his hands held a shining silver sword, smeared with some kind of dark substance, showing that it had been recently used, while the other gave Gideon the incongruent image of the little girl holding his pinkie.

"Don't ever doubt your calling again, Gideon," says Tal, his eyes burning into Gideon, making him shake with the power emanating from the celestial being. "For I'm God's warrior and messenger, His sword in battle. But you, my friend, are His spear."

Gideon silently nodded, accepting the message as it is, and suddenly he felt a wind blowing around him. He lifted his eyes, and he could clearly see rows and rows of angels forming lines around the wood, all of them with their swords drawn.

He looked back towards the movement of deputies and children, and he gasped as he saw the movement of angels around the children: those in more need of medical attention were held in angelical arms, while the deputies checked their condition. Some angels were standing beside the deputies, their big wings opened over child and policeman, creating a protective cocoon for both of them.

There was no sound of steps on the leaves, but somehow Gideon knew that the angel had approached him and was standing behind him. The human turned slowly and he was once again breathless thanks to the kindness and power in the angel's gaze.

The angel studied Gideon for a moment, smiled and finally looked down to the little girl holding his pinkie, who was studying the exchange between them.

His expression was pure love when he made her let go of his finger, and ran his fingers tenderly over her moppy hair. "Go home now, Joy. Godspeed."

She grinned at him, before taking two steps and taking Gideon's pinkie in her hand. The human looked down at her with tears in his eyes for a second, before looking up at the angel who was looking at man and child with a small smile on his lips.

"She's a gift of God in your life, Gideon. Do not waste it."

"I won't."

The wind increased, and finally the vision was gone, leaving behind just the whisper of the breeze on the leaves, the woods and the mist. There was no sign that indicated that the vision really happened.

Gideon felt a tugging on his pinkie, so he looked down to the hurt face of the little girl, whose brown eyes were studying him.

"Gideon," she said in her low girly voice.

"Yes, Joy."

"I've gotta go."

"Go?"

She nodded, staring solemnly into his face, "I need to pee."

Gideon couldn't contain himself, so he started laughing.


	68. My life as a tribute

_**Chapter 68: My life as a tribute**_

_Love is a better teacher than duty. Albert Einstein  
_

One minute they were fighting for their lives, several floors below, and in the next they were being showered with chemical extinguishers, used by the NEST doctors to stop any reactive chemical reaction on their suits.

They tried to bat away their hands, but they were firmly dragged by strong arms towards decontamination shower heads, specially designed for the field hospital, and warm water was immediate showering over their heads, before they even were aware of where exactly they were.

The NEST and CDC doctors fell like killer ants over the third HazMat clad woman, dragging the unconscious sick woman away.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

Thanks to the heat, dehydration and the severe conditions inside the HazMat suits, the girls could barely keep themselves standing, so after the third time one of them collapsed on the floor, one of the NEST officers took pity of them and brought plastic chairs so they could at least sit while the other doctors scrubbed their suits with specially prepared warm water and neutral soap, preparing them to the complicated task of peeling all the protective layers off.

Slowly the doctors started undoing the velcro seals of all the layers they've had attached to their bodies, always with care to ensure that no contamination passed from one layer to the other. They checked them over and over again with Geiger counters and up until then most of the radiation had been kept in the outer layers.

Finally, they unseal the full containment suit, and the girls breathe deeply as fresh air flows towards them. The doctors remove the glaring orange suit, and start to remove the other layers.

Once they have just the first Tyvek suit on, they are left alone for a second, sitting exhausted on plastic chairs as they refill the showers which they will enter again.

"Zee, you good?" Joy asks with eyes closed, feeling her bangles stick to her sweaty forehead and neck.

"Uhmmmm," Ziva moans with her eyes closed, as she massages her back muscles which are screaming at her thanks to her strain of holding onto Joy in the ventilation shaft. "You were right."

"I'm always right. Most of the times. I think." Joy leans forward, her chin resting on her open palm, her elbow resting on her knees, "What are we talking about?"

Ziva snickers as Joy is as tired as she is, and she is not following their conversation. "Not only do I feel like an onion, I smell like one."

Both women look at each other, and the hilarity of the situation spills out: the two start laughing like hyenas, until two men enter their containment area and approach them.

"We're glad to find you in such good spirits, " Ducky says as he enters the decontamination chamber, followed by Jimmy in a equally horrendous Orange suit, "we were all quite worried about you."

Both girls glance at the two HazMat man, and for some reason their tiredness transforms into hilarity, so they keep on laughing until tears start running down their faces.

"Ducky," says Ziva between gasps, "you should," she wipes her face, feeling the salt of her tears on her lips, "wear orange more often."

"Orange Ducky," says Joy, between guffaws of laughter, before she glances at him again, "Duck à la orange," then she laughs as slaps her thigh with her open palm, feeling her tiredness disappear for a minute thanks to the absurdity of what they're saying.

Jimmy smiles as he observes the two women taken with mirth, a very welcome image when compared to what he had expected to find.

Both men approach them, "We're supposed to help you out of these suits, and help you scrub with decontaminant gel before going again to the showers."

The two girls glance at them, still giggling, and Ducky continues, "as we're supposed to help you scrub all over, they've surmised that you would be more comfortable with someone you've already know, rather than a stranger."

Ziva squints at Jimmy, who is standing before her with a small smile and a pot of the hideous heated decontamination gel they've used on Maggie in his hand, "Jimmy, are you going to see me naked?"

Of course, Jimmy immediately blushes and starts sweating, despite the fact that he is wearing two HazMat suits and a mask. "Oh.. ahh… if you don't want my help, I could ask one of the CDC doctors to…"

Joy shakes her head, and immediately feels dizzy, as the last time they've had something to eat was at lunchtime, still back in DC…. Now it's past two am, so many hours have gone by… so many discoveries were made… and the only thing her body asked was food and rest. Not necessarily in this order.

"Zee, the boy sleeps with my sister. There's nothing you have that he hasn't seen before. Several times. I think. I hope."

Both girls start giggling again, and Jimmy blushes even more, as he thinks on Temp, who they've left back in DC. He briefly wonders if the other two Buchanans contacted the youngest sister, telling her of the outcome of the mission.

He needs to call her as soon as possible.

After he gets Ziva naked and rubs decontaminant gel all over her body.

"Oh… ah…" he blushes again as Ziva slowly stands up and squints at him with that wicked smile "I won't look, Ziva. I promise. But if you prefer I could… ahh"

"If you look, I'll kill you with one of my paperclips."

"You don't have any paperclips right now." He freezes, as he studies her up and down, looking at the body hugging Tyvek suit, before asking in a scared voice, "do you?"

Ziva giggles as she starts undoing the Velcro of the last protective suit, showing endless smooth skin and her underwear. Jimmy immediately starts to blush, lowering his eyes to the pot of decontamination gel, "Oh… you can put your suit over…" He gulps as he hears the sound of Velcro coming undone, and then soon a slim hand is holding the suit, "there."

He points somewhere to his right, and Ziva throws the suit where he has just indicated. He gulps again and thrusts the decon gel in her hand, "Here take this and spread where you can reach, I'll spread on your back where you can't…"

She giggles as she takes her underwear and drops on the chair where she had been seated, scoops a generous portion of the gel and starts spreading on her body. Jimmy risks a glance at her and sees endless perfect skin as she bends to spread on her legs. He in turn gets a scoop and starts spreading on her back in jerky motions while she giggles at it, as he just touches her back with the very tip of his fingers, afraid of enraging the Israeli and incurring on her wrath.

They faintly hear the murmur of Ducky speaking in low tones with Joy. Ziva finally stands up and looks at Jimmy smiling saucily, as he does everything not to look at her breasts proudly in front of him, "I swear Ziva, I won't look," he glances to the left instead, where Ducky is helping Joy, "I won't—" He is struck mute, his eyes huge circles behind his glasses, and Ziva notices that for once, he doesn't look chagrined or embarrassed.

He looks shell shocked.

She glances to the side, and feels like weeping.

Joy is naked with Ducky carefully spreading the decontamination gel over her back. There is a huge purplish hematoma on her right shoulder, crawling towards her right arm and her waist, from when she landed hard on her side when jumping to the floor at SL37, and also when she was hanging literally by a rope in the ventilation shaft. The harnesses left chaffed marks on her waist and legs, and despite the several layers of protection, the skin was tender and red.

But what really caught Ziva's attention and struck Jimmy mute were the marks. Joy's back were a mess of old scars, one of over the other, the whitish lines making a stark contrast over the normally tanned tone of her skin. There was also a ugly scar of the shot she took on her lower back during her escape from that Jarod – _psychopathic bastard_, growls Ziva in her mind - some round dotted scars on the side of her hip, which strangely seemed like cigarette burns, and the grotesque markings which could clearly read the word 'Servant' on her lower back, almost over her tailbone and leading to her buttocks.

Ducky carefully scoops a little of the decontamination gel, smearing it with soft hands over her ribs, receiving a hiss in response.

"I would be happier if you got yourself checked out, maybe have an x-ray taken, I'm afraid you might have a broken rib," says Ducky, just to see Joy shaking her head vehemently as the good old Scot spreads more gel over her shoulders, while she holds her hair up giving him better access.

"I don't have broken ribs, Ducky; I've had them before. I would know if I had." Ducky sighs out loud and starts rubbing the gel on her hip, his hand slowing down as it rubs over the cigarette marks. Joy scoops more gel and rubs on her front, neck and boobs, and suddenly both her and Ducky are aware that the friendly banter between Ziva and Palmer is gone.

Both turn to look at them, and they find Ziva and Jimmy staring at Joy: She with a sorrowful expression on her face, but Jimmy is nearly in tears, horrified at the extent of her scarring. Of course, both of them had been aware of her life story, having seen glimpses and hearing snapshots of it from one Buchanan or other, but being able to see it was a matter totally different.

"Don't you have something to finish, Mr. Palmer?" asks Ducky in a reprimanding tone, eager to protect Joy's privacy. During the last years, Ducky had carefully followed up Joy's medical condition, working together with her regular doctor, ensuring that any noted imbalance could be immediately corrected in order to keep her working at her best. So, he had been aware of her scarring, as he had seen it before.

"Ducky, it's okay," says Joy, studying Jimmy's horrified expression, as he lifts tear-filled blue eyes to her face with effort, as his gaze seems unable to leave the scars that he knew existed, but reality far surpassed all the horrors his mind could come up. "I have nothing to hide."

Joy studies Jimmy for a minute, before turning completely so he can see her front.

He can't help lowering his gaze to her front, and his medically trained mind pauses not on the beautiful form in front of him, but on each cut and bruise, and he holds his breath as he notices the bullet wound on her chest; the other bullet wound on her right shoulder – that one had been a clean shot through and through; the exit wound of the shot to her lower back. There are also some knife scars, a cut on her tummy, a little below her navel, another on her leg.

He gulps embarrassed and finally his eyes return to her face, and he notices her staring at him with the same look she usually looks at people she is interrogating.

She smiles a sad smile, before approaching him with slow steps. He involuntarily takes a step back, imagining that she's mad at him for ogling her body, and immediately starts apologizing, "I'm sorry, Joy. I didn't want to look but I … I had to. Not that you're ugly. You're pretty. Almost as pretty as Ziva, but… ahhh sorry, I didn't want to look, aahh man…" Joy stops just a few inches away in front of him, and his eyes immediately go to the bullet wound on her chest. His mind immediately works out that the bullet trajectory perforated the left breast on its upper part and, depending on the angle it entered in her body, it must have gone dangerously close to her heart.

"You could have died," he says, his voice almost a whisper.

Joy answers in the same whisper, "I did die, Jimmy. The fact that I was breathing was merely a formality. For a long time, I was truly … completely … dead."

Joy glances briefly at Ziva, who had folded her arms over herself not to protect her modesty, but to give herself some comfort after looking at Joy's body.

The two women were very similar yet different. Both had long dark hair, with olive skin tone, yet while Ziva was lean and wiry, thanks to the intensive training given by Mossad, Joy was more curvy, with bigger breasts and wider hips, thanks to her unknown Latino genes.

Ziva's skin was smooth, and sun-kissed with a few scars, a legacy from her Mossad years.

Joy's skin, where once was smooth, was now marred with scars that should have no place on her body.

No human being should have the power to hurt another like that.

Finally, after some moments which she lets him absorb it all, she notices that he finally looks at her face; "Ask."

"Ask what?" he looks confused at her, not being able to figure out what she wants from him.

"What you want to know."

"Oh…" he blinks, and his gaze immediately lowers before coming back to her face, and he fidgets a little, extremely uncomfortable but his curiosity gets the better, "How…" he blushes, and pushes his glasses nervously back into his face, blushing deeply as his eyes lower to her breasts, not seeing their form but the ugly bullet scar, plus the horrible marks all over her back in his mind, "How did you do it? How did you survive it all?"

Joy nods, as she had expected a question like that from the M.E. assistant, who also happened to be her youngest sister's boyfriend, "How can I have these scars and still be the person I am today?"

"Yeah." His tone of voice can't hide his astonishment, "If it was me, I think I would… I mean… I know I would have gone mad. A long time ago."

Joy nods, aware of his line of thought. She looks down to the floor, staring sightlessly at it as she gathers her thoughts for a moment. Finally, she says in a very low voice, "My life is a tribute to the woman we've just gone into a radiation pit to save, and to the man she calls her husband. They took a scared, damaged and mute child, terribly brutalized by actions of others, and loved her unconditionally. They've healed me, in all aspects that counts. The scars remain; all hurt is gone."

Jimmy fidgets a little, still looking sadly at Joy, almost expecting her to slap him for staring at her body. But fortunately that doesn't happen. She taps him lightly on the shoulder, and turns to go back to Ducky's side, so he can finish scrubbing her with the decontamination gel.

She is surprised though when Jimmy speaks again, "I don't—" he shuts up, and rolls on the balls of his feet, completely embarrassed.

She stops, turns around and looks at him again, silently encouraging him to continue.

"I don't think I could do it. I mean, surviving what you've been through or helping someone survive like they've done. I'm not strong enough for doing either."

Joy stares at Jimmy for a long time, the weight of her stare making the young autopsy assistant uncomfortable. Finally, "You would, Jimmy. The strength is there. It just hasn't been tested yet. And if it ever happens, should your strength be tested in such dire circumstances, I'm sure you would not fail. You wouldn't disappoint us."

"How can you be so sure of that?" He's momentarily astonished with her faith in him. Him, of all people in the world.

Joy looks around the decontamination tent, the gel, the decontamination showers, the plastic sealing separating them from the world, before her gaze finally rests on him, "You're standing in a radiation decontamination chamber, helping two of your friends being scrubbed from contaminants which are, by definition, alien. And you haven't even blinked before stepping in here."

Jimmy's face slowly breaks into a tiny smile, as he finally understands what she's saying, "I didn't, did I?" His smile becomes even brighter as he gets her message. Joy briefly glances at Ziva and Ducky, who had watched the exchange between them in silence.

"Let's finish with this gel, I need a shower and I'm hungry."


	69. Don't let the angels cry

_**Chapter 69: Don't let the angels cry.  
**_  
_Stop every clock  
Stars are in shock  
The river will flow to the sea  
I wont let you fly  
I wont say goodbye  
I wont let you slip away from me_

_Tears of an Angel - RyanDan_

Joseph didn't ask, but he felt the change in the air as McGee had his own private meeting with the Lord. He just waited until the tears were gone and McGee, a little bit embarrassed, tried to wipe his tear-stricken face with shaking hands.

He silently offered a handkerchief to him, and watched as McGee wiped his face; after some moments, he glanced towards Joseph with a new shine in his eyes, and Joseph, despite the desire to shout out in joy, decided to tune down his enthusiasm.

If the events of this long terrible night turn sour, at least there will be one victory that will mark this evening.

"They're fine, Tim. They're not alone."

McGee stares at Joseph for a moment, his gaze lost as if he is listening to something only he can hear, before breaking out in a shy smile.

"Yes, they're not alone."

Both men smile, just to have their moment interrupted when an over excited Tony and Hope run out of the building, almost tumbling over each other as they break their dead run in front of them.

"They're fine!" squeals Hope, jumping up and down excited.

"The Hammond just transported them to the decontamination tents over there," Tony points to one of the several field hospital tents spread out in the courtyard of the base. "They're going to check them out before releasing them."

While Hope and Tony gives their reports, Gibbs comes out of the building, followed by a more subdued Faith, who approaches her father and hugs him, "They've got mom," she whispers against his ear.

Joseph hugs Faith tighter, and feels new tears prickling behind his closed eyelids, "Praise the Lord."

Both stay like that for a moment, basking in the knowledge that their loved ones are safe and sound, just to have it interrupted by a throat clearing.

They separate and look at the two men standing a few feet away: Col. Sheppard and McKay. The scientist has his usual hyper energy pouring out of his every pore, as he approach them shaking his head and waving his hand in the air, as if trying to slap the heat and flies out of his way.

"This is not the end. They still have to be checked by the doctors, thoroughly decontaminated, scrubbed, decontaminated again -" Both NCIS and FBI agents stare at the rambling Canadian, who keeps going on and on until Gibbs goes up to him and headslaps him.

"OUCH," Rodney glares at Gibbs wounded, who just smirks at him before looking back at Joseph, whose face is slowly breaking into a smile. "What was that for?"

Col. Sheppard glances at Gibbs, sharing a sharky grin, "That's for you to learn not to be a douche bag, McKay."

"But I was just being realist."

"Let them party, they have reason for it," John turns to Joseph and McGee, "They are being examined by the doctors, so it will take a while. Let's grab something to eat, you guys must be ravenous. I gave them orders to contact us as soon as the girls are ready to be released to us."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"What is taking them so long?" asks Tony for the fifth time, staring at the flap of the tent where the girls were being checked. After having eaten some sandwiches provided by the base canteen, they were anxiously waiting.

Ducky or Jimmy had came out for a few minutes each, telling them that the girls were fine; exhausted, dehydrated, sore, but fine. Thanks to the amazing technology of their protective gear, they had absorbed minimum radiation, and would be under medical observation for the next weeks, just to be sure that no surprises rear their ugly heads on them. In between showers and scrubbing, they were taking a long time to come out.

Finally, Ducky and Jimmy come out, still garbed in their Hazmat suits, but without their masks on, and they are followed by a grinning Ziva in blue scrubs.

Tony gives a shout of happiness and runs to her, grabbing her into his arms and spinning her, eliciting laughter of everyone present. Gibbs shakes his head, aware that his rule 12 was plainly being disregarded, again, but looking at the happiness in the faces of his agents he sighs, aware that maybe, just maybe, he must admit that he was wrong.

His gaze falls on McGee's face. His youngest agent is looking fixedly at the tent flap that moves aside and slowly his longtime girlfriend comes out, in light blue scrubs, and Gibbs can't deny the reality of feelings that permeates his agent's face, which are there for all to see.

He loves her.

Truly, madly, deeply.

Even a cynic like Gibbs can acknowledge that.

They both just stare at each other for a moment, with their hearts in their eyes. Joy seems uncharacteristically shy, afraid of taking the first step towards each other. Finally her face scrunches, her eyes filling with tears and he takes the first step, unable to bear her pain.

Her inability to move is over, so she runs to him, jumping straight into his arms, her arms around his neck, as she sobs away the fear and terror she had felt, and had up until now silenced with the sheer determination of getting her task done.

Now that they are safe, she can fall apart, as she knows that he will be there to hold her and put her together if she needs him to.

He holds her by her waist, and she jumps, her legs circling his waist, but there's nothing sexual in it, as her whole body shakes with sobs and he simply tries to comfort her.

"It's okay, it's over now," he repeats over and over, but her crying doesn't give any sign of stopping. He then looks desperate at Gibbs, then at Ducky, who points to a plastic chair a few feet behind him. He glances at it, before walking towards it, sitting on it as he cradles the still crying woman in his arms.

They stay like that for a few minutes, as she purges her fear in his arms, and the others in the room give them a little of space and privacy. Ziva hugs Tony tighter, before turning to Gibbs.

"We almost didn't make it."

"I know."

Ziva looks surprised at him, studying his face as if asking him how could he know that, "my gut." She smiles brightly at him, accepting his words at face value.

Col. Sheppard and Rodney approach them, followed closely Joseph and Jack, who had requested to be beamed down to get a report of the girls. Both older men stop a few feet from McGee and Joy, seeing how the agent cradles her carefully in his arms, showing his love for her in every gesture.

Jack looks at Joseph, wiggling his eyebrows, and the Buchanan patriarch just shrugs, "They're kids. They're in love. Let them be." Jack shakes his head and slaps Joseph lightly on the back, chuckling as he slowly walks towards them.

"Hey, Joy," Jack says in a low voice, and Joy wipes her face with her hand before looking with red eyes towards him, but she makes no move to leave McGee's lap.

"Good work, kid."

She hiccups, and leans her head against McGee's chest, sighing out loud but not answering him.

"Are you calmer now?" McGee asks in a low voice against her hair, as he runs his fingers through her wet hair, which had been combed but it was already getting curly thanks to the hot air of the desert.

She nods, and sits straighter, so she can look at McGee's face. She touches his face gently, feeling his five o'clock shadow beneath her fingers, before glancing at Jack.

"Hey, kiddo."

"Jack, there was something down there," she says, her eyes fixed on Jack's face, trying to read his reaction to her news.

"We'll, it was expected. At least you found your mom. The doctors are still keeping her under quarantine, we don't have any news on her yet."

Joy shakes her head, trying to impress her urgency to him. Ziva approaches them, entering the conversation.

"We're not talking about Maggie. It was something else."

"What do you mean?"

Joy glances at Ziva, before looking at Jack again with tired eyes, leaning against McGee's chest and saying in a very low voice. "That thing down there wasn't alive, Jack."

"At least not in any definition of alive that we know," says Ziva, rubbing her arms over her blue scrubs, feeling goosebumps appearing all over as she remembers the eerie shrieks.

"It wasn't alive? How do you know that?"

Joy leaves the comfortable cocoon of McGee's arms and lap and walks into the tent again. A few moments later, she comes out again and walks up to Sheppard, and puts the life sign detector on his hand, "Your thingy couldn't read it."

Both men are struck mute, staring at Joy trying to absorb the news.

"That can't be. This reads even Wraith life forms." Sheppard is flabbergasted, and Rodney is almost apoplectic.

"Are you trying to say that you saw... the undead? Zombies? Maybe the people there were hit by such a wave of radiation that despite the facts their bodies were - figuratively dead - their bodies weren't aware yet of their demise. That's so amazing!" Rodney is almost bubbling with excitement, as he sees new opportunities of research before him.

"I can't explain it. I don't think I'll ever be able to do it. But..." she stares at Jack, and says with a shaking voice, "that thing has to stay down there. I don't care how you do it, if you blast this base from outer space or if you pour concrete sealing it off forever, but whatever contaminant released in there mustn't ever be released in the atmosphere. If it does, the consequences would be..."

"Catastrophic," says Ducky, approaching the two senior officers of the SGC, "Do not deceive yourselves thinking that you might be able to control it or study it. For you won't. Some truths are not meant to be revealed. Ever."

With Ducky's words floating between them, Jack stares ahead for a moment, deep in thought considering what would be his next step. Finally he blinks, smiles thinly at the NCIS agents, and gives a salute to Gibbs, "If you excuse me, I have to report to the President."

He stands up, turning his back to leave the agents on their own as he tries to gather his thoughts on what to say to the President, just to be stopped by Joseph's low calling, "Thanks, Jack. For everything."

The General turns around and stares at his long time friend, then at his children, his extended family, and the two brave young women who dared to risk everything to save someone who they've loved, and who he respected for many years.

"No, Joseph. _Thank you_."

With those words, he talks in his radio, and with a small smirk and a bright flash of light, he is transported to the Hammond.

Joy turns to her father and hugs him. Both stay like that for a long moment, just enjoying the proximity of each other, as they've almost lost it all. "I was so afraid, dad."

"Eleonor Roosevelt said,"_You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do_." she takes a step back out of his arms, and he molds her face in his big hands, "You did good. Even if the outcome of your actions are not what you've expected. Even if..." Joseph pauses as he thinks on the possibility of losing Maggie, "even if she doesn't make it. If she's beyond medical help, she will know that she is loved, and if it happens to get to that moment she must meet her Maker, she will be surrounded by her family and those who care for her."

He rubs his thumb on her face, then glance towards Gibbs, who is between Ziva and Tony. Ziva had her arms around Tony's and Gibbs' waists, visibly exhausted. His gaze meets Gibbs' indicating Ziva, "I think that after your adventures, you two deserve a good night of rest. We will adjourn until tomorrow morning."

"Today," says McKay, looking at his watch, "I've spoken to Sam a few minutes ago, she had separated crew quarters for all of you on the Hammond, and she expects us to meet her again for breakfast at eight am, which will be in … five hours."

Ziva nods and glances at Gibbs, "I totally agree. I do not think I can stay awake for even ten minutes."

While Ziva, Gibbs, Tony turn to Ducky, urging him and Jimmy to join them for a few hours of rest, Sheppard approaches Joy and Joseph, who now are talking with McGee.

"Hey," Joy points to the life reader, "you were right, it was quite handy."

"Yeah," he spins it in his hand, his face taking a thinking expression, "listen, have you ever considered joining the Air Force?"

Joy glances at McGee and shakes her head, feeling mirth bubbling up due to his out of the blue question, "I already have a lot in my hands working for NCIS, thanks. But you're too late with your enlisting speech. Jack has tried the same thing ten years ago."

John nods, staring at her with an speculative gaze, "Pity, because I wouldn't mind having someone like you on my team." Joy smiles, and she notices Gibbs glaring at the back of the Colonel, "we need people like you in Atlantis."

"Wait a minute, Atlantis?" McGee stares at the Colonel as if he's gone crazy, "Are you talking about Atlantis? The Lost City of Atlantis?"

"It's not lost anymore," interferes McKay, glaring at Sheppard for disclosing such information, "we've found it a couple of years back. It was the city of the Ancients, who were the Gatebuilders. Full of amazing technology and also our outpost in the Pegasus Galaxy."

Joy glances at McGee, noticing his eyes shining at the perspective of investigating brand new technology, much beyond everything he's seen up until then. McKay notices the interest too, and hurries to list the breakthroughs he's been studying in Atlantis. "We've basically rewritten Math, Physics and also Engineering with some of our discoveries we've made over there, or what we've reverse engineered. You see, there's this-"

"McKay, maybe some other day," growls Sheppard, shutting up the Canadian, looking at Joy expectanctily.

Joy sighs and walks up to McGee, taking his hand in hers, "We may drop by for a visit, but not as a permanent thing." He looks down at her, searching her face and smiling as she nods at him, before looking at the Colonel, "our work here is as important as yours. We're exactly where we are meant to be."


	70. An agent is born

_**Chapter 70: An agent is born**__**  
**_

_**Quantico FBI Academy,  
May 1998**__**  
**_

_**"It's irrelevant, the job is find evil and to stop it, not to know where it came from. Let somebody else take that job, this one's tough enough."  
Rossi to Morgan, Lucky  
**_

"What is the victimology?" asks Gideon, looking at the murder board, where pictures of bright eyed blond boys stared back at him smiling, right above brutalized corpses which had been beaten to a barely recognizable form.

"six to nine year old boys, Caucasian, good students, both parents have stable jobs, married, a picture perfect of what a family should be. No enemies, none for the boys or for the family, which might even indicate the reason for such violent act of hatred," Gideon touches one of crime scene pictures, in which the little boy's body had been perforated several times with a screw driver, before being beaten with some type of weapon.

"The violence indicates a crime motivated by passion. Rage boiled unchecked in our unsub as he brutalized these kids. Why someone would hate these kids?" asks SSA Hotchner, looking at the pictures in his file.

"He hates them because they were perfect," says a young female's voice from the door, and both agents turn to see a very young woman standing by the threshold, in jeans and a Georgetown university jumper, escorted by a young agent fidgeting impatiently.

"She said she knew you, Agent Gideon," says the agent, terrified of having committed a mistake in escorting the woman to the recently created BAU team.

"Who is-" Hotch starts asking, but he freezes when he sees Gideon's face, who is looking at the young woman with a small smile in his face.

"Joy Buchanan," mutters Gideon, walking around the work desk until he stands before the petite woman, who has to look up to study his face with sad eyes.

"He hates them because they represent everything he has never had. A family. A stable home. A future. That's why he wants to destroy them. Because they have what he's always wanted to have, but he never will," she says, her soft voice echoing in the room and capturing the attention of the other agents in the meeting.

Hotch stands up, and Gideon turns to him, his face showing a tenderness which Hotch finds endearing, if not strange, to see in the older profiler. "Someone you know?"

"SSA Hotchner, may I present you Joy Buchanan," the young lady takes a step into the room, and both shake hands, "I was assigned to her kidnapping case ten years ago." Gideon turns to the girl, "What are you doing in Quantico?"

"I needed to talk to someone, and you've said that, if I've ever needed you, your door would always be open."

Gideon studies Joy's eyes, and sees pain and regret in them, something that he is loath to associate with the gorgeous little girl he coached out of her shell during the last ten years.

"Of course," He turns to Hotch, "her profile is probably correct, let's look for our unsubs in people who come from destroyed homes, divorced parents-"

"Orphans with adaptation problems, with a long line of short term placements. He has always been an outsider, looking at the family but he has never really been part of one. That's why he's so eager to destroy them." She points to the murder board, and Hotch frowns as this girl sprouts a profile as if she is speaking by her own experience. He sees the worried glance Gideon throws at her, and how he puts a hand on her shoulder, in a silent show of support.

"Hotch, I'm taking an early lunch break, can you cover for me? I have a lot to catch up on."

Hotch nods, and Gideon steers the young lady out of the room, his arm going over her shoulder as they walk down the corridor towards the elevators.

NCIS CM NCIS CM NCIS CM

Gideon left Joy sitting in one of the benches by the FBI Academy cafeteria, watching the comings and goings of the agents in training, while he went to retrieve some coffee and sandwiches.

Once he has their lunch in hands, he stops to study the woman his young protegee has become. Gone is the long unruly hair and baggy clothes, now her face is framed by glorious curly hair which inevitably attracts appreciative eyes from the male agents who walk by her silent figure sitting forlornly on the bench. She mostly ignores them, as if she's inside a bubble which none can approach.

In his constant visits and appointments during the last years, he worked extensively to prepare her to adapt and to function in society. Her episodes having visions or terrifying premonitions diminished in time, until they've became merely a memory.

If asked about them, she would look at him and simply say that she can't remember about the episodes he's talking about, as if her mind had softly dusted those episodes to under her mental rug, in order to allow her to function in society.

She became an outspoken lady, headstrong and intelligent, just like the other amazing women in her family.

And yet, today, when he looked in her eyes, he has seen a wounded soul, as if something had been brutally taken from her and she is currently struggling to figure out how to deal with crippling pain.

He approaches her slowly, sitting by her side, and still she is not aware of his presence so close to her, as she stares at a couple laughing gaily sitting a couple of feet away.

"Joy, your lunch."

She turns sad eyes at him, and murmurs a low thanks, which he has to make an effort to hear.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Five months since our last appointment."

"Uhmm," he unwraps his chicken pastrami sandwich, without taking his eyes of her, as she doesn't even make a move to eat. She simply sits there, with the sandwich in her hands.

"Talk to me, Joy."

"He's dead," she says in a very low voice.

"Who's dead?"

She sighs, her shoulders hunching in pure misery, "Liam Thomas Caulfield," she glances up at him, "he's - was - an assistant professor in Advanced Psychiatry studies in Georgetown."

Gideon nods, understanding her pain for losing someone in her University. It's always a shock to be exposed to the fragility of life once you are surrounded by the vibrant body of students in the height of their youth.

"I'm sorry for your loss." She glances briefly at him, before her gaze settles again in the sandwich in her hand, which she is squeezing but she doesn't make any move to open her hand or mouth to eat it. "Were you two close?"

She gulps, and refuses to lift her eyes, and Gideon sighs as he can literally feel her shame pouring out in waves.

"Ah... Joy." Gideon sits back on the bench, as his protegee lifts her eyes again and looks with tears in her eyes at the couple again, who is whispering to each other with big smiles on their faces.

"How long had you two been together?" He finally asks, and he has to wait until she finally answers in a soft voice.

"Six months."

Gideon looks at his sandwich, which he had started to eat with such gusto, wraps it again and puts it beside him on the bench, so he can devote his total attention to her.

"I'm really... really sorry for your loss," she looks at him, for the first time since they've sat in the bench outside Quantico building, and he is heartbroken to see how sad she is about it.

"It was so … stupid. He was just supposed to pay for his gas. Something everyone does, you know?" she lifts a hand to wipe a tear which she hadn't been able to hold back. "You're not supposed to die when you go to a gas station."

"What happened?"

"He walked into a robbery. Two teenagers were robbing the gas station where he stopped just for a few minutes. They got spooked with him entering the shop and shot him point blank. He died on the scene. He never... He never had a chance." She sobs, as she shakes her head, trying to deny what she's telling him, "he had just left me. I had no idea, no inkling of what had happened to him. I only found out about it when we went the following morning to class and we were all released as the whole faculty was in mourning."

"Ah... Joy," he puts a hand around her shoulders, and after a little hesitation on her part, she hides her face in his neck and cries for her dead lover. "Did you love him?"

Joy stays in silence, thinking about Gideon's question for a while. She sniffles and leans back on the bench, wiping her tear stained cheeks, and Gideon studies the teenager's - no young woman's - face as she stares ahead, her gaze lost in thought.

"No. I don't think I did. But I've enjoyed him, his presence. His touch." Joy's gaze finally falls on Gideon. "Is it wrong? Enjoying a man's touch yet not having feelings for him?"

"Not at all. Sex is an integral part of human being basic needs. It has to be met someway at some point of life. You can't avoid it for the rest of your life." He smiles lightly, "but you have to ask yourself if that's what you want. Because sex without feeling is just … mechanics. Absence of emotion turns it into an empty ritual."

"That's what dad says."

"You talk about sex with your dad?"

"I talk about everything with my dad."

They stay in silence for a while. Gideon fidgets a little, wondering if it's appropriate to tell her what he's thinking, but they've been meeting for ten years, for their psychiatric appointments and also as friends, and he feels that he has the liberty to talk about it.

"He was your first lover."

Joy stares at her own hands, studying the clean nails with only a touch of base on them, and nods silently.

"The first time is always special, especially for the woman as there is a …" he sighs out loud, "a whole lot of feelings and sensations to sort out," she glances at him, studying him attentively, "but I think it must have been extraordinarily difficult to you, considering your … life story and your scars."

She stares at his face and silently nods, "it was almost by accident as... He said in class one day that the circumstances of our past will forcibly mold our future, that there's no way to erase the result of abuse and … someone who has been abused will certainly be an abuser in later years."

Gideon nods, seeing where she was trying to go, "And in your attempt to prove him wrong, you two got involved."

Joy nods and both glance at each other smiling, but Gideon smile fades quickly, "What are you planning to do now?"

"I'm finishing my BA in Psychology in two years, then I was planning on applying for a PhD in the same area, but I might change course now." She breathes deeply, and looks with serious eyes at Gideon, "I'm applying for an internship at the Bureau this summer, and when I graduate I'm going to apply for a Criminology PhD."

"Do you already have a school in mind?"

"I've heard that the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge University is the best there is."

Gideon smiles, "Cambridge? Go for it."

They both chuckle lightly, thinking about a Buchanan in a very traditional and stuffy university across the ocean.

"But you can't use his death as a reason to join the FBI. You can't come to work for the Bureau solely motivated by vengeance."

"That's not it, Gideon."

"Then what is it? Why do you think you should work with the Bureau?"

"Because that's something that I have to do. That I'm meant to do." She turns to look at him,"When we're during the psychological training, listening to the patients talking about their pain and suffering... I can literally feel them. It's almost like I can hear their thoughts in my head. Understanding their motivations and why they're doing what they're doing."

Gideon nods, as her ability to feel empathy was something that they had carefully trained in order to teach her how to control it during their sessions.

"It's okay when their emotions are not as strong, but sometimes there are those who..." Joy shakes her head, glancing at the couple again, who were gathering the wrappers of their lunch to throw away.

"There's so much evil out there, Gideon. How do you fight such evil, Gideon?"

"You bring justice to those who have no justice. You bring solace to those who have lost their hope. You cry with those who are crying, and you laugh with those who are laughing. Evil has many forms. Many ways it can express itself. It's not part of the job finding out where evil comes. The job is hard enough as it is. We only have to fight it, regardless of its origin."  
Joy sighs, nodding at her mentor and friend.

"About Liam, what are you going to do now?"

"I'll mourn for him, and move on. Relinquishing his memory to the past when the time is right."

Gideon frowns as he notices her vacant stare, staring ahead in deep sadness, "Are you going to try again?" She looks at him, confused, and he explains, "take another lover? Open yourself to love again?"

She grimaces, thinking about her dysfunctional relationship with her older professor, who had seduced her and kept her in a sensual web which she hadn't been able to get free. Now, with him dead, there was sadness and - the cause of her pain - relief for his demise.

"I don't think I'll date someone so soon."

"Why do you think so?"

Joy squints and looks up at the trees, which suddenly started bow before a gust of wind, "Being with someone like that is... confusing and overwhelming. And I don't think I'll ever let myself be so vulnerable before a man again."


	71. Be ye angry, and sin not

a/n: This and the next chapter is about sex, smut or ... as I've read in the Chronicles of Narnia section - LEMONS (Man, I loved their way of describing smut. So cute!)

So, if you don't like reading LEMONS just skip for chapter 73, no lemons from this chapter all the way to the end. But be warned. We will have lemons, I'll add lots of sugar and I'll add cachaça - so we will have CAIPIRINHAS. kkkkkk...

So, be warned.

* * *

_**Chapter 71: Be ye angry, and sin not**_

_**Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath. - Ephesians 4:26 - KJV**_

Both the NCIS agents as well as the FBI agents were given crew quarters in the Hammond and ordered to rest, as there would be no word on Maggie's condition until the following morning, as the matriarch was currently being examined by a team of NEST and CDC doctors.

Once in their designated quarters, they finally start to unwind of the high tension which had permeated the whole night, as the dawn was fast approaching and they would only have a couple of hours before re-adjourning again at the crew mess at 8 am.

Joy is still in her blue scrubs, given by the CDC doctors, and both her and McGee, as well as the others, were given clean fresh SGC uniforms to wear the following morning. Once in their designated cabin, Joy walks slowly into the room and falls facedown on the bed, feeling the weight of her exhaustion pushing her down. Her energy levels are below zero, and all she longs for are clean bedsheets and pillows.

McGee looks around the spacious quarter, and at the adjourning bathroom, "I'm going to take a shower, do you need anything?"

She moans, and hugs the pillow, her voice coming muffed out of it, "just sleep."

He chuckles and rushes to the bathroom, where he takes a long shower in order to unknot his tense muscles on his back and neck, which are bothering him a lot. His work that night, even though it hadn't been as physically intense as Joy's and Ziva's, going down that pit from hell and rescuing Maggie, had been psychologically active as he still had to coordinate the rescue of all civilians in the other floors, acting as eyes and ears for the cleaning NEST crews.

He remembers Joy's face as she said goodbye to him, and his despair at seeing the woman he loves going in what many considered a suicide mission. He literally feels his guts twisting in pain as he - even for a small moment - considered how his life would be without that fierce stubborn woman by his side.

Because she was stubborn, and bullheaded and intransigent and... his anger and fury starts to burn again, thanks to his awareness of his incapacity of helping her. Now that the mission is over, just the memory was enough to start a boiling rage coursing through his veins.

With that in mind, he finishes his shower and rubs the fluffy towel against himself in a hurry, eager to finally talk with Joy.

He wraps himself in the towel and leaves the bathroom, just to find Joy still lying on the bed, without moving a muscle since he entered the bathroom. His fury diminishes as he sits beside her, his weight forcing down the bed, waking her up from light slumber.

"Tim?"

"We gotta talk."

Joy blinks owlishly at him, but notices that he's dead serious, so she sits on the bed to be in a better position for their conversation.

"So we talk."

"Joy..." McGee sighs outloud, and stands up, going to the big windows which show the perfect blue planet below. He takes a black t-shirt, given to him by Colonel Sheppard, and puts it on, so he at least is not completely naked for that conversation, "I don't even know where to begin." He runs a shaking hand through his short hair, and turns to look at her with reproving eyes.

"What you've done was so... irresponsible, reckless and harebrained that I can't even classify it as an action of someone so smart as you are."

"Timothy"

"No, please, hear me out. Because you are going to listen to me. Do you have any idea of what went through my mind when you decided to go half-cocked in a boiling pit of radiation, and I had to sit there and watch you … gosh... willingly go in there, regardless of everything everyone else has said to you?"

"Tim, I had to do it."

"Sure, you had to do it. But Joy, you're not superman. You're not invincible. What if something had gone wrong? What do I tell Gibbs? What do I tell Tony? Better yet, What do I tell your father, who …" at this point, McGee is waving his hands excitedly in the air, ignoring his towel almost falling from his slim hips, "once he arrived in here he had to find out by General O'Neill that his wife, his daughter AND his daughter's colleague were down there in that hell."

At this point, he's already shouting, "What if you had died? What should I do?"

Joy's looking at him with wide teary eyes at him, "I'm sorry..."

"Don't say you're sorry, as sorry doesn't cover even half of it. Do you have any idea how... powerless I've felt, as I couldn't do anything to help you, and still you were willing to sacrifice your life and..." He turns his back at her, as his fury makes him shake, and he stares at the planet down below, incapable of looking at her without the bitter taste of anger in his mouth.

"I can't even look at you right now without remembering how... sick with worry I've felt," he says in a low voice, as he feels impotent tears pooling in his eyes but he sniffs and refuses to let them fall.

He hears a sob coming from the bed, then the murmur of the bedsheets moving as she stands and walks towards him, freezing a few steps behind his back, afraid of touching him and unleashing his fury at her.

"Are you really that mad at me?" she asks in a quivering voice, for once realizing the effect of her actions on her boyfriend.

"Yes," he sighs out loud, "I don't... I don't know what else to say right now... I just know that I'm really pissed off and whatever I might say further will hurt you. And... I think you should go to bed and sleep right now, as I won't be able to rest the way I am."

She sobs brokenheartedly, nodding at his back, even though he can't see her. He hardens his heart as he hears her steps towards the bed, which freeze for a moment.

"Timothy, ah... You need to get this anger out of your system. It's not healthy to feel like that." He laughs bitterly, and folds his arms over his chest, watching her through the faint reflection on the windowpane. "Do you think you would feel better if you … well... In my family, whenever one of us did something irresponsible like that, Dad would correct us... and discipline us."

He sniffs, breathing deeply trying to control his anger, "And what you you suggest I do? Turn you over my knee and spank you?"

Her silence is revealing, and he turns around shocked to see Joy fidgeting in the same spot, staring at her trembling hands which are twisting nervously in front of her, "Dad always says that if one acts like a child, one should be treated like a child. The rule applies even to mom."

He studies her desolate figure for a moment, his anger still simmering but now his rational mind is screaming at him to consider the ramifications of what she's saying, which is downright weird in the time and day they were living.

"And you would simply... let me get away with that?"

"I … don't know. It's different when it's Dad. He has some rules, you know."

"Rules?"

"Yeah. _Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath_. Basically, if things get to that point, it's because all parts involved are way beyond … the conversation phase. And you shouldn't let this anger fester in you, because it's not healthy. Anger not resolved becomes bitterness. Bitterness becomes scorn. Scorn becomes indifference, and from that moment on, love dies. There's no way back. So, if that's what it takes for us to … make it right again," she looks at him crying, her tears falling unchecked on her cheeks, "we could start over. But I don't want to lose you because of my stupid actions, regardless of how right they've seemed to me when I've had them. If that's the price I have to pay... I'll..."

He unfolds his arms and approaches her, towering over her with his larger frame, his mind still struggling with the idea, and she lowers her head to her chest, crying.

"What rules?"

"Sins once visited are forgotten and forgiven after … this. Never to be remembered again. Slate is clean all over." He nods, and she sniffs, wiping her face, before continuing, "and there can be only five..." she rubs her backside distractedly.

"Why five?" He studies her face, as she throws one curl of her almost dry hair back, and looks up at him.

"Because the purpose of the punishment is to correct, not to maim. A little physical reminder of how reckless one might become." She bites her lower lip, and another tear escapes, "he also would make us count each out loud."

He studies her in silence for full minute, the tension filling the room like a cloud as she cries ashamed of how she had hurt him, and knowing that if they don't solve their difference then the shadow of it will always be between them.

He finally takes her by her wrist, and slowly walks towards the bed, sitting on it and guiding her to sit beside him. She looks at him for a brief glance, and still there's too much hurt and anger on his face, so she looks down to the floor heartbroken. He gives her a tug, and she sniffs before crawling to his lap, belly down, making herself vulnerable to him.

He closes his eyes for a moment as he feels her lying over his lap, and rests his shaking right hand over her back, feeling her heaving ribs as she cries.

He slides his left hand from thigh to her buttocks, while his right hand slides under her blue scrubs and feels the outline of the scars on her back. He closes his eyes tighter as he lowers his head to his chest, as he feels sobs rising on his chest as his fingers slowly trace the bullet scar on her lower back, Jarod's gift.

He gives her a firm squeeze on her buttocks before grabbing her by her arm and forcing her to sit on his lap, as they hug each other and cry as she whispers against his neck that she's sorry.

He can't do it, even though she gave him the permission to it. His mind can't accept that he might be added to the long list of those who had hurt her.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry," she sobs against his chest.

He hugs her tighter, her unrestrained breasts compressed against his chest inside the blue scrubs.

She leans her head against neck, her tears wetting his skin, as she repeats mindlessly that she's sorry, as he cries too, at the same time that his traitor body reacts to the proximity of a warm female on his lap.

He leans his head against her neck, her usual aroma is gone; instead of peaches, the strong odor of the decontamination gel mixed with other chemicals that the doctors had rubbed against her skin in order to ensure that she was rid of any contaminants invades his nostrils, so he turns his head and lightly deposits kisses on her neck, then he goes up to the area behind the ear, until he finally bites the earlobe and sucks it into his mouth, eliciting a moan out of her.

However, this one, instead of pain, is of desire, which makes a lightening shiver automatically go down south, as his body becomes ready and eager for hers, despite everything that has happened between them.

"Timothy?"

He leans his head back and looks into her eyes. Her beautiful long eyelashes are glued to each other and her eyes are red, but there's no pain in them anymore. He hungrily draws her face towards his, his lips attacking hers with a ferocity that leaves her faint and out of breath, his hands struggling to get rid of the blue top of her scrubs, at the same time that he twists his body and deposits her in the middle of the bed.

He breakes his kiss briefly to get rid of her scrub top, his own black shirt and the towel, which had miraculously withstood up until now on his hips. Once naked, he lays over her body and again assaults her mouth, his hands attacking her curves, his fingers tracing the marks of the harnesses on the soft skin, squeezing and demanding an answer, any answer.

She moans and wiggles against his hands, as she could barely control her body reactions to his ministrations. He releases her lips and lowers his head to her chest, and at the same time his lips attack her nipples he gets rid of her scrubs bottoms.

He bites her left nipple sharply, and she lifts her back from the bed, while one of his hands goes south and checks her in the valley which he is planning to feast, finding her ready for him.  
He touches her deeply, his expert hands already aware of all points which make her cry out in ecstasy, and he finally lifts his head and looks at her, with tears in his eyes and in an strangled voice, "I can't be gentle tonight. I really can't."

She nods and closes her eyes for a moment, as he expertly separate her folds at the same time that she opens herself to his invasion. They finally look at each other, and in each other's eyes they can see reflected their pain, anger, misery and despair, which had ruled their last minutes, but, there's also hope and love, as well as a silent promise of a new beginning.

He breathes deeply, his hands going expertly towards her knees and holding her open and vulnerable to his invasion, and kisses in an deep, open mouthed kiss, his tongue diving into her mouth, smothering her cry at the invasion of his McGee sword into her Buchanan keep.


	72. Aftershocks

a/n: We still have some Lemons in the Menu. Be forewarned_._

_**

* * *

**_

_**Chapter 72: Aftershocks**_

_**"It's easy to take off your clothes and have sex. People do it all the time. But opening up your soul to someone, letting them into your spirit, thoughts, fears, future, hopes, dreams… that is being naked." - Rob Bell  
**_  
Moans and murmurs filled the air, as the two lovers moved against each other. A small delicate tanned hand flew to the side, the fingers clawing the bedsheets as he sighed and forcibly turned her on her side, folding one leg against his chest and lifting her hips from the sheets every time his body advanced into hers, eliciting loud moans from her, who had her face buried against a pillow, in a vain effort to silence her crying out his name like a litany.

He closed his eyes and focused his senses in her: her skin, her taste, her moans and how her body gripped his most sensitive part, bringing a moan out of his lips and stars before his closed eyelids.

He leans his bigger body over hers and wraps his arms around her torso, bringing her against his chest as he folds his legs and kneels on the bed, cradling her boneless body against his chest as he attacks her mercilessly, his eyes tightly shut as he finally feels her convulsing in her climax and becoming a broken doll in his arms.

He stops for a moment, as aftershocks ravage her body and she moans weakly against the skin of his neck. Her glorious hair is sweaty, clinging to her back as he runs his hands over her scars, fascinated by her ribs expanding and retreating as she breathes deeply, trying to catch her breath.

He waits until he feels her breathing finally becoming regular again, before he wraps her hair in one of his hands and use it as leverage to gently lift her face from where it is resting on the crook of his neck.

She is still a little out of breath, but she obeys his silent demand and finally looks into his eyes, her mind and soul bare, completely vulnerable before him, and once again he is feels surprised and humbled by the childlike trust she deposits in his hands.

She has always had a very good poker face, resultant of years working with the filth and reckless side of humankind, but yet her eyes have never lost the innate quality of expressing her deepest hidden thought, despite her desperate attempts to hide it from him.

If the eyes were windows for the soul, Joy's eyes were cathedral-sized ones, leaving her soul and hurt bare to those brave enough to look inside, investigate its secrets and illuminate its shadows.

"Ah Joy," Tim moans, before leaning and taking her lips into another kiss, this one without the desperate hunger from before. His hands become more gentle, as they glide in feather like moves over her curves until they settle on her hips, which they grasp firmly, starting his movements anew.

The hurt and desperation is gone; now, a deep tenderness rules his actions and kisses, trying to sooth the hurt he has created in his angry act. Tim feels his eyes again filling with tears, and he carefully cradles her body and lowers it against the pillows, and his teeth and mouth slowly worshiping her as he starts moving again.

This second round is over too soon for both of them, as they both soon are again swept by their feelings and shaken to the core of their souls, as they cling to each other after both are blinded by the force of their climax.

They stay there, connected, for a few minutes as their breathing slows down and their sweat cools over their bodies. Timothy sluggishly moves his body to the side, his head too heavy to leave the pillow, as he studies the breathless woman by his side, her eyes tightly shut despite the tear tracks starting from the corners of her eyes.

He runs his eyes down her body and even in the faint light he notices the bruises of his fingers and the tracks of his teeth in her fragile skin, and he feels a little bit ashamed of how he had acted.

"You okay?"

She sighs loudly and turns her head to look at him, her eyes investigating his face, hidden in shadows, trying to unveil his deepest thoughts. She blinks tiredly and folds her arm, her fingers lightly touching his face and lightly following the contour of his lips.

"Yeah. Are we okay?"

He studies her face for a moment, before finally answering, "Yeah, we're fine."

She smiles tiredly at him, but her eyelids start to close on their own, a silent testimony of her exhaustion. He feels his body also slowly shutting down, as his mental and physical storm is gone, but before he finally falls asleep, he throws an arm over her body and drags her smaller body against his side, molding hers against his, one of his hands grasping one of hers, at the same time that he hid his face in her hair, slowly drifting away to sleep with the noise of her light snoring against his chest.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The chirping of the door wakes up McGee, who for a brief moment looks unaware of where he is. He looks to the side and instead of the usual thick curtains of the townhouse master bedroom his eyes find total darkness outside the window. Suddenly a tiny dot of light appears and illuminates the surface of the Earth, the light making the oceans shine in a perfect blue color.

The amazing spectacle takes his breath away for a moment, and he stares out of the window amazed of the great opportunity granted to him. Yesterday, he had no inkling that the following day he would see the sunrise from a space ship in orbit.

The doorbell rings again, and he takes a look at Joy who is softly snoring against his chest.

There are dark circles around her yes, and if he looks down at her body, there were some red welts from the harnesses biting against her skin that must be still uncomfortable. He thinks about how he acted the night before, and he blushes at the savage way he attacked her.

The doorbell rings again, so he slowly moves her head from her comfortable position and slides out of the bed, puts his boxers on and slips the black t-shirt on. He refuses to open the door naked.

"Who's this?" he asks in a low voice, glancing back at the exhausted figure sleeping on the bed.

"It's Santa Claus." McGee smiles, "Duh, it's Tony. Gibbs ordered me to wake you two up because Ducky would like to check Joy again before we go for breakfast."

McGee looks again at Joy, who is moving on the bed, "Give us ten minutes."

"Five minutes, McGee. We're already running late. General O'Neill wants to talk to all of us and we also need to check on Maggie."

"Okay," he hears Tony's footsteps down the corridor, and when he turns he finds brown eyes fixed on him. "Hey."

"Morning," she croaks, before falling back on the pillows and covering her face with one of them.

"You've heard him, we have to get ready."

"Not yet, let me sleep a little bit more," she turns on her side, hugging one of the pillows to her chest, eliciting a smile from McGee, who approaches the bed and sits beside her.

"You can sleep again later, now Ducky wants to check on you."

"I don't think I can move, everything hurts," she moans, lying back so she can look at McGee with a pouting face.

"Come on, I'll give you a massage in the shower," he says with a tiny smile, as he leans towards her and half drags, half carries a moaning Joy to the shower of their quarters.


	73. Hope meets her Match

**_Chapter 73: Hope meets her Match_**

When Joy and McGee reach the mess hall of the Hammond, thanks to the graceful help from an airman, they find everyone already sitting in joined tables at the mess hall, laughing loudly. Jack and Joseph are nowhere to be seen, but Tony is having a ball laughing at something Sheppard is telling him, which in turn is making McKay blush and stare daggers at both men.

"You kidding. Your name is really _Meredith_?" Tony looks at McKay, before throwing his head back and laughing out loud; McKay fidgets, turning to look at Ziva who is looking confused at them.

"What's wrong with his name being Meredith?" Ziva looks from one laughing man to the other, and both keep laughing even harder.

"You see, she doesn't see anything wrong with with my name."

Sheppard leans forward, laughing; Tony shakes his head, wiping tears of mirth from his face, "She doesn't get the joke, _Meredith_."

Ducky stands up and walks towards Joy, "What's the reason for all the ruckus?" she asks, before being guided by the gentle doctor to a corner, where he immediately starts checking her vitals, while McGee walks up to the table and nods to Gibbs, taking a seat between him and Hope.

"Boss, any news about Maggie yet?"

Hope passes a basket with bread to McGee, who immediately gets the last piece in it and starts buttering it. Gibbs takes a sip of his coffee and frowns at it, as it's not his usual blend, "Jack went to talk to Joseph, the doctors were still doing some tests on her the last time I've spoken to both of them. They will have a full report later this morning. It's too early to say anything."

"The biggest issue that the doctors are facing right now is not what to treat her for, but how. You see, they've been doing tests in order to figure out the range and dept of the radiation she was submitted as they are not sure if the treatments they have will be applicable to her," says Jimmy, passing the butter to Faith, who smiles faintly before taking it from his hand and passing a generous portion on her own slice of bread.

"So we're kept in this waiting game," she says, glancing at McGee, "they're not going to give any definitive report until they've exhausted all possible venues."

Joy comes back with Ducky to the table, and Hope stands up in order to give space for her beside McGee. "Here, sis, I'm done."

Joy sits beside McGee, and she sighs tiredly, "You okay?"

"Yeah."

Hope leaves them and goes to the breakfast buffet with the bread basket, gets more bread and turns to return to the table, not seeing that there's a tall muscular man right behind her and hitting full throttle on his chest.

"Ooff" she stumbles, the bread basked escaping her hands as she tries to keep standing, and she would have fallen to the floor if two muscular arms had not automatically stretched and held her tight , bringing her straight against to a man's chest.

A very muscular man's chest.

A very defined muscular man's chest.

Her hands instinctively hold on to the very defined biceps, hidden from her fingers by a regulation BDU and black t-shirt. She sighs, and she feels the arms around her waist automatically tighten around her, as she slowly runs her eyes from that fine chest to the face of the man in whose arms she was, finding full manly lips made to be kissed, a smooth shaved square jaw that she longed to run her fingers, soon followed by her tongue, crowned by beautiful blue eyes which were looking at her as startled as she was.

"Oh..."

"Oh..."

They've stayed like that for what seemed like an small moment of eternity, lost in each other's gaze. Just to have their moment interrupted by someone cleaning his throat.

"Cam?" Daniel looks from Cameron to the beautiful blond in his arms, and he could see them literally falling in love right in front of him.

"Cam?"

"Ah... Daniel," Cam cleans his throat, but doesn't let go of the blond in his arms, who is staring at him as if he is a piece of candy which she has full intention of taking a bite. Or swallowing whole.

At that thought, he instinctively tightens his hold on her, and her eyes bulge, but don't waver from his.

Finally he tries to say something intelligent. "Hi."

"Hi." She smiles then, and he is lost, gone; hook, line, sinker. He can't help himself.

He smiles back. He tries again.

"Ah... HI."

Her smile becomes larger. "Hi."

And that's it.

Faith pokes Joy, showing what's going on a few feet from them. She giggles, and wiggles her eyebrows to Faith.

Hope can't help the giddy happiness bubbling inside her, as she is almost humming with it. She then does one thing that gives shivers to Cam, a soldier who has faced down Goal'd, Ori, and countless other enemies.

She giggles.

"Hi, I'm Colonel Cameron Mitchell, ma'am. At your disposal." He says in a low voice, and she almost shiver with the almost suggestive tone he adds to the simple introduction.

"And I'm Special Agent Hope Buchanan, Colonel. At your _total _disposal," she whispers the last words, and she is giddy as she notices how his eyes dilate and automatically go to her lips.


	74. Bloodthirsty and bloodletting

**_Chapter 74: Bloodthirsty and bloodletting_**

"Uhm..."

A shoe comes flying out of nowhere, hitting Hope in the head, and breaking the spell between the Colonel and the Fed. She turns the shoe in her hand, and glares at the table where Joy and Faith are trying to keep their giggling at bay, but finally erupting in gales of laughter.

"What the... What the hell is wrong with you guys!" she shouts, becoming red almost blowing steam out of her ears, as she glares at her sisters who are laughing like hyenas, glancing from Hope to Cam, and laughing again.

Even Gibbs is grinning in his cup of coffee; Ducky is cleaning his glasses with handkerchief trying to keep from laughing, while McGee has a horrified look on his face.

"She did it," he points to Faith, who hides her face in her hand and keeps laughing.

"I was having a moment here!" Hope growls, glancing at Cam who is starting to be contaminated by the mirth on the table and the ridiculousness of the situation, and he is smiling at her.

"I'm sorry, my sisters are very inconvenient." she says, blushing brightly totally mortified, and he thinks her even more endearing as she sends a death glare at her sisters' direction.

"It's okay. Did it hurt?" he touches her forehead lightly, and she instinctively closes her eyes as she feels his calloused hands touching her skin.

"No," she says in a low voice; when she opens her eyes, she finds big blue eyes studying her attentively, and she can feel her insides becoming mush.

_Oh, man, I'm in trouble._

"We were just trying to help your brain to kick into gear, it seemed to be stuck on Hi.. Hi … Hi..." says Faith, wiping her face as she keeps giggling.

Hope looks at her oldest sister and literally growls at her, as her words register in her mind.

"Don't forget, my dear sister, I can and I will publish your naked pictures in the intranet of the Bureau. _Again_."

That cuts Faith's laughter, who stares at her with calculating eyes, "You wouldn't dare."

"Ah... I would," she glances then at Joy, whose laughing dimmed but she was still chortling against McGee's chest. "And you, my happy sister, I have so many hours of footage of you two fornicating, that I could make billions on the porn industry."

Both Joy and McGee blush, turning to look at Hope horrified, who is glaring at them with a cat ate the canary smile on her face.

Tony, McKay and Sheppard immediately tune into the conversation.

"Really?" McKay squints at McGee; he doesn't look a man who has women falling all over him, but still he has landed a hot girlfriend. A crazy suicidal hot girlfriend, but a girlfriend nonetheless. McKay briefly wonders how he had managed to do that.

Sheppard looks from the horrified couple to the revengeful sister, and he can't help laughing at the bloodthirsty temper of these Buchanans.

Tony, instead, is already planning ahead, "Hope, how much do I have to pay you for those tapes?"

Ziva glares at him, and immediately hits him with a headslap. "OUCH," he glares at her, "don't be a poppy party, Tony." He grins at her, throwing an arm around her shoulders, and whispering to her ear, "It's a party-pooper, Ziver." They grin at each other.

"Hope, you've promised that you had turned off the surveillance of our rooms in the townhouse," says Joy, feeling her temper starting to boil.

"Oh... but you sometimes forget that I do have surveillance in other parts of the house, don't you?" Joy closes her eyes, gulping, as McGee blanches as Hope starts enumerating parts of the house where they've had sex other than the bedroom, "the living room, the kitchen table, the garden; but I have to say, I was particularly surprised when I've watched that one time on the stairs." McGee closes his eyes and leans his head towards the table, hitting it on the polished surface, "I had no idea you were so elastic, Timmy."

"Oh, God, kill me now," McGee mutters completely mortified, as Joy is slowly standing up, ready to throttle Hope. Tony, McKay and Sheppard are looking at McGee with surprise and respect in their eyes.

"The stairs? How do you..." McKay shuts up when he receives a death glare from Joy, who is now slowly stalking Hope, who finally realized the danger she was in. She hides deeper into Cam's arms, who instinctively holds the blond in a protective way.

"I can't believe it; you've promised you would erase the tapes," growls Joy, her hands in tight fists.

"But they're so entertaining..." Joy advances against Hope, who squeals and runs out of Cam's arms, running away from her furious sister through the corridors of the Hammond, almost bulldozing Jack and Joseph on their way out of the cafeteria.

Faith taps lightly McGee on his back, who moans, "Is nothing sacred or private in your family, Faith?"

She giggles, and lifts her eyes to see Jack and Joseph approaching their table. "No, dear. Everything you do, _we know_. If we don't, we will find someone who knows and bribe this someone to tell us."

He lifts his head from the table, looking mortified at her, which results in more laughter from the end of the table.

Gibbs sits back on his chair and simply chuckles into his coffee, thoroughly enjoying how uncomfortable McGee was with the meddling ways of the Buchanan siblings, and he leans his head to the side as he hears a loud squeal and a faint thud in the corridor.

Joy had probably reached Hope.

Jack and Joseph reaches the table; Jack nods to Daniel and Cam and points to the door.

"Where's the fire?"

"No fire. Hope was just telling us the amazing staying power of McGee as Joy's sexual stud," says Ziva in an almost monotone voice, which makes the whole table erupt in more laughter, including Gibbs and Ducky, while McGee looks horrified at Joseph and slowly slides on his chair, wishing he could hide under the table.

"Oh," says Jack, looking at McGee speculatively who simply slides a few more inches, wishing he could simply disappear.

"Ziva," says Joseph, in an equally serious tone of voice, "I really didn't have to know that."

He looks at Cam and Daniel, and glances at Jack, who does the introductions, "You know Daniel, but have you met Mitchell? He's been the leader of SG1 since I've stepped down as CO of the team to work in DC."

"No we haven't met." Joseph studies the young colonel before him, but before he can offer his hand for a shake, he hears a squeal.

"DADDY! JOY WANTS TO KILL ME!"

A blond hurricane jumps into his arms, and he hugs Hope against his chest before he looks at the furious figure in the doorway. Joy's out of breath, her eyes burning fire, her fingers like claws and her hair is a mess, where Hope's fingers had probably been in a past not so long ago. Hope is also a mess, with her hair out of place as Joy had probably tried to pull chunks of it.

"Hope, dear. Your sister doesn't like when you play with her toys. Or boyfriends. You should have known better." He says in a surprisingly calm tone of voice.

"But..."

"She's been..." Joy closes her eyes and literally growls, "_filming_ us, and she hasn't kept her promise of destroying the tapes. I want her blood and I want her head on a silver platter."

Joseph chuckles at Joy's fury, receiving an angry glare from the furious woman, "no need of such extremes, as Hope will destroy them as soon as she gets back to DC."

"She will?" Joy's tone is doubtful.

"I will?" Hope's tone is mournful.

Joseph stares at his daughter, and says in a tone which accepts no discussion. "Yes, you will; and this discussion is finished. You won't pester Joy's and Tim's love life again.

"She won't?" McGee's tone is hopeful.

"I won't?" Hope's tone is whiny.

Joseph takes Hope's chin in his big hand, and makes her stare into his eyes, "Yes. You will."

They look into each other's eyes for a full minute, until Hope's shoulders sag, and she looks at Joy apologetic, admitting defeat. "Okay, I'll destroy the tapes."

"Ahhhhh" moan sadly Tony and Sheppard, just to receive a glare from Ziva.

"Wait a minute," Cam had observed the interactions the whole time, and he can't hold his curiosity in check, "you're _their _father?" He points to the crazy women who had fought like teenagers, one of them the beautiful blond he had held in his arms.

"Yes I am."

"Daddy, let me introduce you to..." Hope walks to Cam's side, hooking her arm on the fold of his arm before she figures out something, "I don't remember your name," she says, looking at Cam and smiling brightly.

Cam looks into Hope's eyes and again he feels like he's falling into them, like a drowning man, "ahhh Cam.. Colonel... Colonel Cameron Mitchell, but everyone calls me Cam." She giggles, and he smiles down at her, charmed.

Jack frowns at the lovesick gaze Cam throws at the young Buchanan, and he feels Joseph becoming tense as he sees the exchange.

"Hope," Joseph says in a very cold voice, "please get me a cup of coffee."

"Sure, daddy," she taps Cam's chest lightly, in a little show of support, before going to fetch what her father has requested.

As soon as Hope is away Joseph takes two steps closer to Cam who immediately gulps and stands straighter, as he feels the weight of the stare of the old Buchanan over him. He sees the old man glaring at him, as if at trying to measure him he found him lacking.

"Jack, what can you tell me of this young gentleman?" Joseph asks, completely ignoring the fact that he has the young gentleman standing right before him.

The General walks towards Daniel, and looks Cameron up and down, as if he were a piece of meat in a hook at the market. He rubs his chin in a lazy manner, and offers his verdict to his friend.

"He's a Colonel. Good soldier. We've met him during the battle in Antarctica, when he was wounded. Once he was on his feet again, I gave him my old team. SG1. Southerner, so probably has their old gentleman's ways. Good chap. Doesn't run around after skirts, at least no rumor of it has ever reached my ears."

"Jack, is that really necessary? They've barely exchanged a few words." Daniel looks from Jack, to Joseph, to Cam, who was blushing seven shades of red of having his life scrutinized to the father of the girl he has just met and had a little infatuation.

"Sir, I mean no disrespect towards your daughter. We've just met."

"Son, I don't know _you_. But I know my daughter. What's in question here is not _if _you will sleep with my daughter or not. It's _when_. "

Cam's eyes become huge orbs, and he risks a glance at Hope, who was at the buffet and once feeling his gaze on her back, she turns around and smiles wickedly, sending a kiss to him. Cam gulps, and looks at the old Buchanan again.

"I really hope you can handle her, and handle her right. Because, if you hurt my little girl, I'll tie you outside a Tel'Tak and I'll laugh as you burn during reentry. Did I make myself clear?"

Cam gulps, and nods repeatedly, "Yes sir."

"Good, we're understood."

"Here is your coffee, daddy," says Hope, offering the coffee cup to Joseph who smiles at her, no sign of the animosity he showed to Cam in his face. She smiles back, and walks towards Cam, standing beside him invading his personal space.

"Have you finished, I would like to chat with the Colonel."

"Sure, sweetheart," he says to Hope with a smile on his face, who squeals and grabs Cam's arm, dragging him away from the table where everyone is sitting.

"Remember what I've said, colonel," says Joseph to Cam in a serious voice, but with a smile fixed on his face, making him freeze on his way to the desk with Hope, "you _will _burn."

Hope looks confused at Cam, who is staring scared at her father now, before dragging him away.


	75. Joseph in papa bear mode

**_Chapter 75: Joseph in papa bear mode_**

After properly intimidating Hope's new beau, Joseph looks at Joy, who is trying to put her hair back into order after literally rolling on the floor with Hope, "Satisfied now?"

"You should have let me hit her," she mutters, walking back to her seat between Gibbs and McGee, who are both looking at Joseph with a glint of respect in their eyes - in Gibbs' case - and surprise, in McGee's.

Joseph gives a sharklike smile, and notices how McGee tries to slide even more under the table, "With you, son, I was nice. _Extremely _nice."

"Ah..."

Joy pokes McGee's ribs, a small naughty smile appearing on her face, "Do you have money on you?"

"What do you need money for?" There was nothing they could buy on the ship, so it was a reasonable question.

"Not important. Do you have money on you?" He takes his wallet from the pocket of his BDU, and Joy giggles when he opens it and she fishes out a twenty dollar note.

"Hey!"

"Faith," Joy waves the note like a flag, and lays it on the surface of the table, "Twenty bucks she boinks him in the next forty eight hours."

Faith makes a fake shocked face, and starts giggling, before putting also a twenty note on the table, "I bet twenty four hours."

"Gambling is a sin, girls," says Joseph, looking sternly at the girls, who look repentant for a moment. But both girls grin when he opens his own wallet and adds another twenty to the wager, "twelve hours."

"What the hell is this? Are you really betting on how soon she will …" Gibbs is for once speechless, as Joseph chuckles and shakes his head, as he notices the outrage in his friend's face.

"You see, Jethro, we Buchanans are headstrong, stubborn and downright irritating. But in one aspect we're all the same," he glances at Hope, who was almost purring as she is throwing all her charm over the charming Colonel, who was falling for it in light speed, "we all fall in love at first sight. No exceptions. And it usually results in very short courtships and even shorter engagement periods."

"But it will be hard to beat Matthew, who had met and bedded Sarah in eight hours; he's the current record-holder in the family," says Faith, receiving a death glare from McGee as he hears about his sister. Tony and Ziva start chuckling, eliciting the curiosity of Sheppard and McKay, who look at Tony for an explanation.

"Sarah is his baby sister," pointing to the furious McGee, "who is boinking their baby brother," pointing to the Buchanan sisters.

"Man, this is crazy," mutters Rodney, trying to imagine what a complicated net of relations they had.

However, Gibbs squints at Joy, who has a MonaLisa smile on her face as she glances at McGee, who is currently fuming at the laughter coming from Tony and Ziva. She feels the heat of his gaze, and for a moment she lifts her eyes and meets his, and the twinkle in them is unmistakable.

He smirks, and she smiles back at him and their silent communication is not lost by Ziva, "Wait a minute," she points to Joy, "How long did it take for you two to get together?"

McGee immediately looks guilty, and after glancing at Joy who is now smiling at him, blushes deeply, up until his ears. Faith notices the exchange and jumps right in, "Hey, are you implying that it took _less _than six hours? You beat Matthew's record?"

"Ah..." McGee glances at Tony, who is smiling wolfishly at him, then at Joseph, who is studying him with very, very serious eyes. He simply blushes even deeper.

"Probie, all this time you were hiding your game! Tell me, how did you do it?" Tony is literally rubbing his hands together, eager to get some dirt on their relationship.

"I didn't do anything!" McGee whines, feeling the walls closing around him, as everyone now is looking at him.

Joy puts a hand on his thigh, almost making him jump. He glances at her as she squeezes it lightly, before looking at Faith and Ziva, both women eager for some gossip.

"Remember that drink that I've told you he paid me when we met in a bar?"

They nod.

"We've never got to finish it."

Tony howls out loud, while Faith looks shocked and Ziva simply starts laughing, eliciting curious looks from the other tables in the mess hall.

"Now he won't ever leave me alone," he whines to Joy, who pats his hand in a comforting way.

"Don't worry, Tim. You're looking at it from the wrong angle. You've got the girl in two hours. Tony took _years _to make a move on someone who was just a few feet away." she says smiling to him, noting the small smile blossoming in his face.

"Yeah, you're right."

He looks at Tony, who is still laughing, "Two hours? Two hours? You, Probie, are a naughty boy."

Tim just shrugs and puts a hand around Joy's shoulders, bringing her to lean against his chest, all that with a smug smile on his face. "What can I say, I'm irresistible."

Joy giggles against his chest and pokes him, making him yelp, before smiling towards her. "Sure, whatever you say."

Their mirth is interrupted by a throat cleaning, and all look at Joseph who is staring at the two lovebirds with a frown. They immediately wipe the smile of their faces and try to look chagrined, as Joseph folds his arms and glares at them with that look that only fathers can perfect, which is enough to make you feel vile, small and useless, and he is the owner of all knowledge and wisdom.

"Timothy, let's have cup of coffee," Joseph finally says, his eyes staring daggers at him.

McGee frowns, and glances at the cooling cup Joseph had left on the table, then at Joy who is biting her lower lip with a worried expression on her face, and they exchange a whole conversation without saying a word.

_What now?_

_I think he knows._

_What?_

_Our little... disagreement last night._

_Oh, sh**._

_Yep._

_He knows?_

_Yep._


	76. McRomeo speaks to PapaBear

**_Chapter 76: McRomeo speaks to PapaBear_**

McGee sighs out loud, and glances at Joseph's back, who is already gone to the buffet table, and was preparing his own coffee.

"That wasn't an invitation, kid," says Jack, arms folded and a smirk on his face.

"Good luck, McRomeo," says Tony, waiting anxiously to watch the bloodbath the oldest Buchanan will create with his Probie.

McGee excuses himself and slowly walks towards Joseph. He grins slightly when he sees that the older man has already prepared two cups, and has added the exact amount of milk in his.

"Sugar or sweetener?"

"Ah… sweetener."

Joseph adds it, and hands the coffee he has just prepared to McGee, before taking his own cup and slowly start sipping his own.

Joseph studies McGee for a second, making the younger man fidget uncomfortably for a long time before taking a sip of his hot coffee, "Now you know."

McGee grimaces, uncomfortable with the fact that Joseph somehow figured out what had transpired between him and his daughter and also responsibility of carrying the burden of such secret. "Yeah, I do."

Joseph nods silently, "Good."

Both stay in silence, each sipping their coffees, while Joseph simply stares ahead and McGee studies the old Buchanan, trying to read the man and finding only a very complicated puzzle.

"You deceive a lot of people with this calm image, don't you?" Joseph turns so he can look at McGee, who continues with a glint in his eyes as if he finally figured out something, "You let them believe that Maggie is the force behind the family. The one who wears the pants in the relationship, but in the end, you let her get away with a lot but you are the one who controls everything."

Joseph only smiles for a moment, studying the young man before him.

"People just see what they want to see. And you are right."

Both sip their coffees, and Joseph continues, "Son, I was in the Air Force. Black ops. You don't get to be a colonel being nice. I've let Maggie get away with a lot of things, but I will never tolerate irresponsibility towards her own life, or towards one of our kids. No, I can't abide that."

He studies his cup of coffee, in deep thought, "Every man has his limits," he takes another sip, "And I believe you've just found yours."

McGee sobers up, remembering what has transpired in their quarters the previous night.

"Yeah, I think I did."

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Uhm?"

"Having physical dominance over her? Even if for a short instance of time?"

McGee fidgets a little, "I can't believe I'm talking about this with you…" says McGee blushing brightly, but Joseph acts totally nonchalant.

"Why not? How are you supposed to learn if there's no one to teach you? And please do not insult my intelligence telling me that you talk about this subject with Tony or, God forbid, Gibbs."

McGee, who was taking a sip of his coffee, drinks it and it goes down in the wrong pipe, making him start coughing, his eyes watering at the same time he blushes beet-red at the mere idea of talking about sex and physical punishment with Gibbs.

"God, no. I don't even think about it while I'm around him. He might sense it and knock my head senseless."

"I imagine that he takes the same approach for everything, imagining that if he knocks your heads hard enough the information will settle in the way he wants it to. But, unfortunately, that's not what happens. Sex, like a lot of things in life, is a matter of trials and errors, and you don't give the information sought by your kids, they will seek it elsewhere, and I shiver at what they pass as normal in the world out there. So, son, if you ever have any doubt on the subject, do not be shy to ask away."

"I just have to… ask?"

"Sure. No judgmental tone or arguments. Just information."

"Thanks."

"You are welcome."

McGee frowns as he remembers the previous night, his gaze nervously flickering from his coffee to Joseph, who waits patiently until he gathers his thoughts.

"It was… raw."

He glances at Joseph, but there's no condemnation on his face.

"I'm not talking about the... ah... physical part, which was…"He chuckles and blushes a little, "intense, but I'm talking about…"

"Emotionally raw."

"Yeah. It was … like I was turned inside out and only the very deepest part of me which I wasn't even aware existed had been dragged out and was screaming out for something I really can't define… I'm not making any sense."

"No, you are making perfect sense.

"Am I?"

Joseph nods, "You see, rage is a powerful emotion. When you add sex to it, there's a whole mess of sensations that are fed by it. It's perfectly understandable."

"Wow… ahh… then how… do I fix it?"

"Don't let it simmer. Let it out, vent and scream if needed to. But don't let rage become bitterness, otherwise every time you look at your spouse or beloved your eyes will be clouded by resentment. And, if you ever reach this point, love is as good as dead."

McGee nods, frowning at the information given to him by the Buchanan patriarch, who just waits until he processes it all.

"Why the rule of five only? Any specific reason for it?"

Joseph chuckles and looks at his own coffee, "More than five, the skin becomes too sensitive and you wouldn't be able to have mind-blowing makeup sex afterwards."

McGee's eyes become huge orbs and he again starts coughing on his coffee, and hisses as he spills some over his hands and on his borrowed BDU.

"Ahh…"

"What, haven't you tried it? I've heard it's an amazing experience," says Joseph with a twinkle in his eye, as he watches McGee blushing several shades of red and starting to sweat.

"We really shouldn't be having this conversation," says McGee, completely embarrassed.

"Why not? As I've told you before, how are you supposed to learn if there's no one to teach? Besides," he approaches McGee, and looks into his green eyes, "you make my daughter happy. That is already enough in my book to let you into the family. And you've proven over and over again that you are a person with a veritably huge character. I'm aware of how lacking a father figure was in your younger years, but that doesn't mean that you have to keep isolated from male figures the rest of your life."

He puts his arm on McGee's shoulder , looking into his eyes, "Son, if you ever need me, in any capacity, I'm here."

"Thanks, Joseph."

"Good, now finish your coffee, we still have to check on Maggie."


	77. Bad News

**_Chapter 77: Bad news_**

After the joyful and relaxing meeting during breakfast, it was a more subdued group that gathered together to be briefed about Maggie's condition in one of the conference rooms of the Hammond.

They sit around the table, and Tony glides his hand over the polished wood fascinated, receiving a glare from Gibbs, but Sheppard just smiles, "It's a gift from Woosley to Carter."

"Who is Woosley?" Gibbs sits back, watching the others getting comfortable in their own chairs, but his attention focused on the young Colonel.

"He's the leader of the Atlantis expedition," says Rodney, without lifting his eyes from his laptop.

"_Current_ leader," says Sheppard, emphasizing the first word. He turns to Gibbs, "Carter was the leader before him and the first one was... Elizabeth Weir. We're an exploration expedition, so traditionally there's a military and a civilian leader, one responsible for the security of the outpost and the other for the everyday dealings of the scientists running around like headless chickens."

"Do you really think I run around like a headless chicken?" Rodney sounds almost hurt, and John smiles and says, "only when I push you to save the world or my ass in the last minute."

"Are you two always this snarky to each other?" Ducky sits besides Gibbs and salutes the others with a nod who were silently observing the conversation.

"Snarky? This is us being nice!" says Rodney, and Sheppard smiles brightly and nods.

Gibbs just smirks, becoming suddenly serious as a group of doctors finally enter the room lead by Colonel Carter and some familiar faces from CDC and NEST. After a short round of introductions, they all sit around the table.

Jack cried off being during the talk with the doctors, as he along with Mitchell and Daniel had to settle some ruffled feathers of the senators who had demanded an emergency meeting. So they were transported to the base, while all the others stayed to receive the good and the bad news.

Joy reflexively squeezes McGee's hand in a nervous gesture, and he brings their joined hands to his lap, giving her a small smile that seems to settle her nerves.

"You are all anxious to hear the news on Dr. Buchanan, so I will be as brief as possible in my explanations. If you have any doubts, please ask me after I've explained everything," says Dr. Mitsouri Tanaka, glancing at Joy and Ziva and nodding at them.

"Dr. Maggie Buchanan has been exposed to a dose of approximately 300 REM for a long period of time; however, thanks to the shielding offered by the room she was in and the delicate layers you've used to protect her during transport, that's a very small dose. I won't lie to you, this is bad, but not as bad as it could have been, as beyond the sealed lab where she was found, we were registering radiation levels as high as 1000 REM. Just for you to have a parameter, half of patients exposed to radiation of 450 die, while all exposure above 800 result in immediate death."

Another doctor steps ahead, "Right now, her clinical status is listed as critical. We've already registered severe leucopenia, so we have immediately started a regimen of blood transfusions to alleviate this, but that's only a temporary solution."

Tony raises his hand, as a little boy in a classroom asking for permission to ask a question.

Dr. Tanaka points to him, "Do you have a question?"

"What is leucopenia?"

"Severe white blood cell loss, very common side effect to radiation poisoning," blurts out Jimmy, frowning with the news, before glancing at Dr. Tanaka. "As you said, this is only a temporary solution. She will need a bone marrow transplant, won't she?"

Dr. Tanaka nods, happy that someone in the family is following his explanation, "And that also might not end in positive results."

"You can expect temporary hair loss, vomiting, headaches. Even with the bone marrow transplant, there's a huge possibility of her developing leukemia or lymphoma in the next months or years. Unfortunately, there's no way to foresee how it will develop. She might be relatively well for a while, and suddenly develop a cancer, either on her thyroid, breasts or lungs."

"We've found also some secondary conditions that we have to inform you," he notices the blond agent softly crying, and the oldest agent looking at him with tears in her eyes, one hand over her open mouth. "Radiation damages the intestinal tract lining, causing bloody vomiting and diarrhea. Along with her weakened system due to the loss of white blood cells, we'll have to keep her under quarantine for a long time just to avoid any possible contaminant that might weaken even more her delicate state. We've found perforations on both of her eardrums, probably resultant from the blast. We have no way to know how acute her hearing loss will be until she is awake, but there will be significant loss. "

Dr. Tanaka looks at Ziva and Joy, who are staring sightlessly ahead, in shock, "You two were exposed to the same level of radiation but for a very short period of time when compared to Dr. Buchanan, and your initial blood work hasn't shown anything, but still I would like to keep you two under medical surveillance during the next year, with initial weekly checkups until we can ascertain the long term effects of this radiation on your bodies. If you in any moment present nausea, vomiting, headaches or fever, you are to report immediately to your Doctor, who will in turn contact us."

Dr. Tanaka sighs and rubs his hands, looking around the silent room, "Now, any questions?"

They stay in a shocked silence for a few moments, trying to absorb everything that has been told to them. Finally, someone voices what's in everyone's heads.

"Will she live?" Gibbs asks, voicing everyone's doubts with only three words. "Because after your report, it seems to me that maybe she was better off dead."

"Jethro," Ducky reprimands him, "please, her condition is very serious indeed, but with the proper treatment, she might not develop the worst case scenario. Radiation poisoning effects are unfortunately nearly impossible to predict, as each case is a different case. Only time will tell."

Hope can't hold back a sob, and turns to hide her face in Faith's shoulder, who instinctively hugs the younger woman and looks with tear filled eyes to Joseph, who in turn had his hands linked in front of him, on top of the table, staring at them with a frown as he heard the report.

He feels the gaze of everyone on the room on himself, sighs and glances at Hope and Faith crying, then at Gibbs and Ducky, both older men looking at him just waiting for a reaction. Both Gibbs and Joseph look at each other for a moment, before Joseph nods and moves his eyes to Ziva, Tony, Jimmy, finally resting on Joy and Timothy.

Joy's head is lowered to her chest, as if she is unable to meet anyone's gaze on the table. Timothy meets his gaze unfaltering, and the pain in them is breathtaking, as he knows exactly what was going on in Joseph's mind right now.

But in his case, he had been given a second chance, which Joseph might not be as lucky to have it.

He stands up and walks around the table, walking towards Joy's chair, but still she won't look up at him. Once is standing beside her chair, he uses one finger on her chin, and gently lifts her face, so her tear filled eyes are looking at him.

"You did good, Peanut."

She sobs, and a tear escapes her eyes, but stays silent, biting her lower lip.

"More than twenty years ago, when I crashed with my plane, they also said that I would be a cripple, never to walk again. But your mother accepted me then, never leaving my side. It's not much different from now."

He looks around the table and there are very few dry eyes in the room.

"We've had over forty good years together. Just because we might have some bad times ahead, it doesn't mean that we have to despair yet."

He wipes his face, and he's surprised to find wetness on the tip of his fingers. He had thought that he had already cried out, but apparently there were still some tears in him.

"Dr. Tanaka, if you don't mind, I would like to see my wife now."


	78. Open the eyes of my heart

_**Chapter 78: Open the eyes of my heart  
**_

Colonel Carter arranged that the doctors and Joseph to be beamed to the Military hospital where Maggie was held under quarantine, while she informed Gibbs that now as the senators were safe and sound and the survivors were being properly attended by the medical team, SecNav had requested their immediate return to Washington DC.

She promptly offered to beam them to DC, but she was surprised when Teal'c, who had just watched the proceedings without saying or interfering came to the Buchanans and offered to fly the Tel'Tak to DC.

"It would be a great honor to offer this service to the valorous children of a mighty warrior … who I'm proud to call friend." He leans his head respectfully, "Please accept my humble services in this time of great need and pain."

Faith glances at Gibbs first, silently asking if he is okay with it. He shrugs, "I'm fine with it. I prefer flying in that invisible tin than being transformed into stellar dust and materialized elsewhere."

She lifts red rimmed eyes and smiles faintly, "Thanks, Murray." She pauses, frowning as he leans his head to the side curious, "Wait a minute, your name is not really Murray, is it?"

"His real name is Teal'c. He's a Jaffa," says Carter, grinning widely at her old colleague of SG1.

"Fascinating," says Ducky, approaching the tall Jaffa and fidgeting with his glasses as he studies him, "It's my first time ever to meet someone from another species. That though reminds me of that …" he then starts winding a long story of a goat shepherd in Tripoli several years back, an Egyptian terrorist and... well he went on and on, and Teal'c just glanced to Carter for a moment, before turning his attention back to the old M.E.

Gibbs simply smirked as his friend rambled on and on, and silently checked his team with his eyes. Tony and Ziva were sitting together talking quietly on some chairs to the left of the room, while Jimmy was listening fascinated to something McKay and Sheppard were explaining to him. Faith and Hope were beside him, but Joy and McGee were nowhere to be seen.

"Where's McGee?"

"Ah, I saw them leaving a couple of minutes ago," Carter points to the door of the conference room, "Joy said she needed to do something."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

McGee had noticed a glazed look coming to Joy's face after her talk to her father, and he had also seen when she took advantage of the moment when everyone was talking to each other to slick herself out of the room unnoticed.

He waited and when he had noticed that she didn't return to the meeting room, he left also to try to find her.

His options were a little limited, as they've been to only two other places in the ship: Their quarters and the mess hall.

Mess hall was closer, so he ventures through the narrow corridors of the Hammond and he sighs deeply when he finds her standing by the huge windows, staring at the dark background with the amazing image of the Earth slowly rotating beneath the ship.

He observes her for a minute in the window's reflection, and notices that she seems to be resting as her eyes are closed, but her mouth is moving as if she was speaking.

He slowly approaches her, and so very carefully puts his hands on her waist. She sighs, but doesn't open her eyes, but McGee can see a faint smile slowly forming on the corner of her lips.

"They are singing, Tim."

He looks into her face, observing the minute smile on her lips and how she is leaning her head to the side, as if she is hearing a sound that no one else can partake.

"Who is singing?"

She simply smiles and doesn't answer.

He lowers his head and closes his eyes, dropping a kiss on her brown curly hair. Thank God the scent of the decontaminating gel is gone, now a simple soap aroma drafted from it, "I've prayed for you." He tightens his grip on her waist, and he can feel her ribs expanding with each breath.

"I knew that."

"Did you?"

She wiggles in his arms, spinning so she now has her arms around his waist too, so they can stay like that, comfortably in each others arms for a moment. He fits his chin over her head, as she leans her head against his chest, listening attentively to his beating heart.

"How did you know?" She leans back, and looks up to his face for a whole minute, trying to find his secrets in it. He returns her gaze unflinchingly, eager to hear her answer, and he smiles faintly as he finds a special glint in her eyes.

She lifts her hands and molds his face, her thumbs running over the shaved surface of his cheeks, before moving to his eyes, making him close his eyelids.

"What?"

"Just trust me, okay?"

She slides her fingers softly over his eyelids, and McGee can feel her warm breath against the sensitive skin of his cheek when she leans his head towards hers and prays in a very low voice.

"God, may he see with Spiritual eyes, not flesh and blood. Let him see and acknowledge Your wonders, the same way You've constantly shown them to me. Amen."

She moves her fingers away, and McGee opens his eyes, staring down into her face.

"So what?"

She smiles softly to him, and glances to their side, her grin becoming larger as she stares at a point a few feet away inside the cafeteria.

"What? What are you -" He is struck mute as his eyes follow the direction of her gaze.

They are not alone in the mess hall anymore. Instead, there are five very tall muscular men, each in plain jeans and comfortable jackets, comfortably standing there with their arms folded, just looking at them with smiles on their faces. Their eyes were like fire, and the power and strength emanating from them seemed to fill the room with an aura that was very hard to ignore. McGee glances from them to Joy, who is smiling brightly at them as if they were long time friends.

"I would like to introduce you to some friends of mine." She points to the first, "These are Motta, Scion, Nathan, Captain Tal, Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts and Guilo, the strength of Many."

McGee's gaze falls on the strangers again, and it literally takes his breath away when he sees their clothes change, from normal things to celestial robes, shining with a blinding light that fills the room.

"Supreme... Commander?" McGee looks at the tall blond, now in his glorious form, "Heavenly hosts? Are you saying that they are..." he can't go on, so he just stares at them stupefied.

Guilo looks at Joy and wiggles his eyebrows, "I think we've struck him mute. Not bad, uhm?"

She giggles, and rubs her face against McGee's chest, listening at his heart beating faster than before, and how his arms are faintly shaking around her torso. He probably is in shock.

Poor McGee.

"You... you know them by name?"

"Yep. I've known them since I was a child."

Tal takes a step ahead, leans his respectfully his head, saluting the couple, "Once again, God's plan was unveiled in a miraculous way." He glances at McGee, with a knowing glint in his eyes, as he sees the brand new white spiritual robes, which had been washed in the blood of the Lamb. "God always takes the simplest way to fulfill his plans, but His will is much beyond the understanding of man. He yearns for His children's attention, so He creates opportunities so they may see and recognize His glory. You took that chance, and we're all happy for that."

Guilo rocks on the balls of his feet, fidgeting non-stop, and grins wickedly at Tal. "May I? Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

Tal grins at the young soldier and hands him the victory trumpet, which he had hidden somewhere in his robes. Guilo opens his huge wings and jumps in the air, flying out of the ship and doing a twist in the empty space above the earth.

The soldier brings the trumpet to his lips, playing a beautiful song that, despite the lack of air in the space, seems to miraculously reach the Hammond, reverberating through its structure and the people inside it, who for a second pause as a small shiver runs through their bodies.

Some hear a faint sound of a beautiful song, which fills their hearts with joy and hope for a better day, but most just continue working unaware of what has just happened.

And under Joy's and Timothy's attentive gaze, they see shining shimmering waves of light sparkling over the surface of the planet, marking protected cities under the rule of the Lamb.

"_And blessed be His __Glorious Name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with His Glory,"_ says Tal, his gaze moving from the Earth to the two agents, smiling as he sees them hugging.

"Amen and Amen," both say together.


	79. How Great is our God

_**Chapter 79: How Great is our God**_

_Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events. - Albert Einstein _

**Thanksgiving service for the safe return of the children.**  
**July 1989**

The first piano chords slowly filled the church, as Johnny touched the black and white keys of the old piano in the Living God Baptist Church service in memory of the seventeen children killed by Ed Benton and also in thanksgiving for the safe return of the six kids found alive.

The summer was in full bloom, and the 4th of July holiday was chosen for the thanksgiving service.

The parents of the living and the dead children gathered together and were slowly using each other as a support net. Those who had lost their children for the acts of the madman, both those he had dumped across state lines and those who were buried in shallow graves at Benton's farm were embraced and adopted by those with living children.

Their deaths had been painful but ended up creating a solidarity network that was spread out through four different states.

Yet, the living children were in need of medical and psychological care. Their sores and burns were carefully treated, and most of them had been released after a few weeks of hospitalization.

In the fallout of the investigation, Special Agent Jason Gideon insisted on returning to Glasgow to personally take the witnesses reports from the three children kidnapped in that town. He later on visited repeatedly the young Joy Buchanan during the weeks she had to stay hospitalized, sitting for hours without end talking with her.

And Joseph and Maggie just watched the strange friendship blossoming between the quiet child and the solemn FBI agent.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

In one of the last of his visits at the visit before her release from the hospital, he approached the pediatric section of small hospital she was being kept with a small cellophane wrapped package in his hands, and he paused to observe her from afar as she quietly watched the other kids in the other beds of the pediatric wing, all being consoled by their parents.

She studied them almost as if she was trying to absorb their reactions to their care, her attentive brown eyes following the path of the hands as they softly touched their kids on their heads or hair.

She frowns as she sees a man, probably a father, approaching one of the wounded boys, and Gideon can see her visibly tense as the father talks sternly to the boy, who is cowing on the bed. She starts to rise from the bed, but she freezes and looks confused when the father opens his arms with a big smile and hugs the boy, and kisses his head and cradles the little boy in his lap.

He finally can't take her confused face anymore and approaches her bed, leaving the wrapped gift beside her on the bed and sits on the mattress. His gaze follows hers, and both watch the family finally become one again.

"He's not going to hurt him, will he?" She finally asks in a small voice, as she leans her head to the side as the father feels their gaze on him and glances at the last medical bed of the wing.

He immediately recognizes the federal agent and smiles, nodding in salute.

"No, he's not going to hurt him. He's his father. He would never willingly hurt him because fathers are there to protect their children. That's what families do."

She frowns and turns on the bed, lying back against the pillows and playing with the blanket edge.

"So... they are not servants. They are allowed to speak without receiving punishment for it."

They've already had that conversation. Apparently, after some gentle prodding Gideon had been able to gather the following information from Joy's past, and he was faithfully relaying it to Maggie and Joseph so they could be aware of it and make out a plan on how to handle their so traumatized daughter: First of all, she had been in an abusive relationship, where she was nothing more than a serf; She didn't have a name because the creep who kept her had only called her Servant, and she didn't remember if she had a name before that moniker; and the bastard would spank her brutally every single time she dared to speak; such continuous indoctrination had made her believe that children were supposed to stay quiet and out of sight, never to speak in the presence of an adult.

Her family had done a great job on slowly teaching that it was okay to be a child, that speaking was allowed and that love, not duty, was what kept them together.

But the road to recovery was still long and steep.

"No, they are not servants."

She nods, as if accepting his words at face value. Her gaze falls on the cellophane wrapping, and she glances at the FBI agent curiously.

"I've brought something for you." He pushes the gift into her direction, and with a small smile she tears the paper eager to see what's inside.

Her smile becomes a huge grin when she sees what he's brought her, and Gideon chuckles as she acts like the child she is, sighing and hugging the blue winged unicorn tight to her chest.

"Wings, you gave me a new Wings."

"Wings?"

"He was my first friend ever. He took care of me along with the Commander when I left the Pit."

She moves the horse so she can stare at the eyes of the plush toy, giggling, "Unicorns are very special creatures, a little bit shy, but whenever they strike a friendship with a mortal, it lasts forever."

"Yes, I think you are right," he says, happy for making the right choice of gift for her.

She hugs the winged horse again, lying back on her pillows, "Thanks Gideon".

The little girl and the FBI agent study each other for a moment, he smiling at her softly,

"Gideon."

"Yes, Joy."

"I know what you do."

"Do you?"

She nods, running her little fingers over the wings of the unicorn, "You hunt monsters so they can't hurt innocents."

"Yes, I think that's a way of describing it."

She nods, frowning a little. "Will you teach me?"

"Teach you what?"

She lifts serious eyes to him, "How to hunt monsters."

Gideon sighs, as they've had that conversation before. "You're just a kid, Joy. Enjoy it while you can. Grow strong and wise. Play and know the world. If after you see the whole world of opportunities available to you you still want to do what I do, you look for me. I'll be your teacher."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

She smiles at him, and with difficulty due to her burns on her hips she sits on the bed, and throws skinny arms around his neck. Gideon sighs and adjusts her on his lap, and he closes his eyes as he feels her body slowly molding to his and becoming less tense as her wounds stop smarting from having moved from the bed.

"Gideon."

He smiles against her moppy hair, "Yes Joy."

"You know a lot of stuff, don't you?"

"I'm a fairly knowledgeable man. What do you want to know."

"How do they put snow in snowglobes? And why doesn't it melt?"

Gideon chuckled, and proceeded to make a long explanation about it, which she didn't understand, not even half of his words. After the end, he just shrugged and told her to forget it.

And that's how Joseph found them an hour later, with the old FBI agent lying against the hospital pillows, holding a sleeping little girl in his arms as she hugged in a tight grip a blue winged unicorn.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

_The splendor of a King,_  
_clothed in majesty_  
_Let all the earth rejoice,_  
_all the earth rejoice_  
_He wraps himself in light,_  
_and darkness tries to hide_  
_it trembles at his voice,_  
_trembles at his voice_

Johnny's voice echoes through the small church, as the families sing. There are pictures of the dead children with flower garlands, and the parents of the living children were sitting beside those who had lost their children, offering silent support in this time of need.

_How Great is our God  
Sing with me how Great is our God  
Let all the earth_

Joseph made a short and emotional sermon on the feelings of loss that the parents must be feeling right now, but he guaranteed that justice had been served, and God in his mercy had helped them find the bodies of their children so they could receive a proper burial, and not be forgotten in a shallow grave.

Joy was sitting beside Mark and Maggie, her head resting tiredly against Maggie's rounded tummy. She liked to hear the sounds the baby did, it was like there was a growling thing inside of Maggie, which sometimes would kick with a surprisingly strong reflex.

Gideon had to return to DC, but he made an agreement with the Buchanans that he would would keep in touch with the family in order to act as psychologist to Joy, helping her to understand and adapt to society after the successive traumas she had been through.

Joy had recently been released from the hospital, where she had to stay for six weeks until her burns were on the mend, and the doctors ascertained that there was no risk of infection. They also were very curious about her scars, but the extensive tests they've done raised more questions than found answers.

She yawns widely and rubs her face against the tummy, smiling when she feels the pressure of a small foot against her cheek.

_And age to age He stands_  
_and time is in His Hands_

She hears the song changing when more voices join the singing, and she immediately goes on alert. She sits straighter, looking around the church, and she smiles when she sees familiar faces standing on the corridors of the pews.

She glances at Daddy, he is leading the singing, while Johnny kept playing and the lyrics kept coming, filling the church with the soft music.

_Beginning and the End,_  
_Beginning and the End_  
_The Godhead, three in one_

She stands up and goes to stand beside Joseph, who smiles down at her and keeps singing. She takes his hand and tugs it, pointing to something behind him, but he doesn't understand what she is trying to show him so he keeps singing.

She shakes her head and points again, as the music involves everyone in a crescendo, he gets curious and looks to where she is pointing.

His voice falters and he is momentarily speechless, as he sees an amazing vision that makes him feel his knees weaken. All around the church there are angels. In the aisles, in the pews sitting with the grieving parents, guarding the grounds of the church making a barricade around it.

There were angels sitting beside the choir which was singing, and another standing behind Johnny. His gaze finally moves to his right left side and he is again surprised when Joy calmly walks towards one whose robes were so white that was hard to look at, his wingspan almost covering the width of the front of the church. When she gets beside him, she takes his pinkie and looks back at him, grinning at Joseph as if that's the most normal thing in the world.

Joseph looks from her to the angel, and he sees a huge grinning smile in his ageless face.

_How Great is our God  
Sing with me how Great is our God  
Let all the earth _

The angel looks down to Joy and says something that Joseph doesn't really hear, and she grins and goes down to where the Buchanans are sitting, stopping in front of Hope and grabs her hands and drags her to the front of the church. Once the two girls are there, Joy starts giggling and dancing. Finally Hope figures out and starts dancing too.

_How Great is our God  
Sing with me how Great is our God  
Let all the earth _

The other kids look curiously at the two girls, but slowly they leave the pews and join then, making a disorganized attempt to dance. Soon the giggling and laughter of the children filled the church, as they played tag and danced as the music filled the room.

Joseph just observes them dancing for a while with tears in his eyes, and he feels the angel approaching his side, until he stands beside him, watching the children dancing.

"She has always been able to see us, Joseph. And that's why we've trusted her into your care. She won't remember us in a few months. Her memory will fade once the scars in her body heal."

The angel looks at Joseph, his gaze burning the oldest Buchanan, who feels the weight of the responsibility given unto him. The angel says in a soft voice, "She won't remember us for a while."

The angel grins widely, "But you will."

"Come, Tal, come dance with me!" she giggles, and Tal smiles, nods saying goodbye to Joseph and walks down the steps, taking her by her hand and starts dancing with her, spinning her as she giggles away.

_Name above all names_  
_Worthy of all praise_  
_My heart will sing_  
_how great is our God_

Joseph stares at the amazing scene happening before his eyes, as several other angels join the dancing, and their laughter mixes with the giggling of the children. He feels tears falling unrestrained so he looks at Maggie, who is looking at him confused at his expression.

The music keeps playing, the angels and the children keep dancing, enjoying the praise being lifted up to the Almighty.

_How Great is our God  
Sing with me how Great is our God  
Let all the earth __sing_  
_How Great is our God  
_


	80. I feel married Don't you?

**_Chapter 80: I feel married. Don't you?_**

_Present day_  
_On the Tel'tak going to DC._

Teal'c quietly exchanged stories of old battles with Ducky, who was basking with the change of sitting beside a warrior from another world. Jimmy was sitting right behind them, looking from one man to the other absorbing their wisdom like a sponge.

McGee was standing by one of the windows, and he leaned forward, looking out of the windshield of the transport, and he smiled as he saw acrobatics of their angelical escorts, how they zigzagged between themselves leaving a streak of light pulverized with sparkling lights on their wake.

He sat back on his chair, chuckling a little as he looked at Joy, who was sitting with a placid smile on her face in a chair in the back of the cargo area, with her legs stretched in front of herself. She opened her eyes when she felt his gaze on herself, and smiled and patted the seat beside her.

He left his place and went to make her company, sitting down beside her; She immediately leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Are they at it again?"

"Yeah. Like little children."

"Ah… the euphoria of a battle won."

"What are you two talking about?" Gibbs, sitting in front of them, stared at them curious about what they are whispering to each other. Both agents look at each other for a second, transmitting something in their gaze that makes Gibbs a little envious of the connection between those two. Finally, McGee stretches his long legs before himself, and shows a little smart ass smile on his face.

"Inside joke, Boss. You wouldn't understand."

"Uhm…" Gibbs leans his head back and squints his eyes, observing his two younger agents, who, for some reason, don't seem as young as before. They have matured right before his own eyes, and he is surprised to see how McGee's shoulders looked wider, as if he had embraced the weight of the world and was comfortable with it. There was a serenity and maturity on his face that was hard to connect with the very green agent who almost stumbled over his own feet in Norfolk.

Joy, in the other hand, had come to his team as a broken soul, carefully trying to piece together her life after fate kept throwing battles in her path one after the other which would have led a lesser person into madness, but she had slowly, on shaking legs, sometimes stumbling, kept going on.

He notices how McGee suddenly frowns, and lowers his head to speak in lower tones to Joy.

"This bothers you, doesn't it?"

"Uhm?"

He shrugs, careful not to dislodge her from his shoulder, one arm going around her waist, "Us, living together, but not married. It bothers your father, even though he doesn't say a word on it, I know he disapproves." She lifts her face, and studies his attentively, "if it bothers him, it must bother you too."

She leans back, sighing out loud and staring at their intertwined hands, "Yes, it does."

"Why haven't you ever said anything about it before?"

Joy frowns as she tries to come up with an answer to his question, taking her sweet time to answer it, "McGee, do you remember where you met me?"

"It would be impossible for me to forget it," he murmurs, studying the sad look in her eyes, which for a moment seem lost in a memory.

"Do you remember… how I was when I met you?"

That shuts him up. Their desperate coupling that night had been a confused mangle of emotions, tears and pain, and he remembers how she trembled and cried in his arms, his reaction upon finding the fresh bullet wound that had nearly cost her life and her whispered confession that she had briefly wished she had died. How he kissed the still fresh wound, causing painful sobs to boil from her chest, and how he held her as she cried out to the heavens as she finally, for the first time in months, mourned her dead team.

And how later, much later, he had learnt that that had been the first time she had allowed herself to be touched by a man after her brutal violation during her captivity.

"I wouldn't ever forget that."

She blinks, trying to dispel her tears, and squeezes the big masculine hand in hers, with his long pale fingers, that she had always thought were like pianist hands, "I was in a very… very dark place; a place that not even my parents, up until then, had been able to follow. They knew that… I was slowly slipping away. They cajoled and cried and screamed, but despite their love and care for me, I still felt… half dead."

Gibbs kept his eyes almost closed, as the two agents apparently had forgotten he was just a few feet away from them. He risked a brief glance at Tony and Ziva, both asleep completely dead to the world in the back of the Tel'Tak.

McGee squeezes her hand, bringing it to his lap, as he waits for her to continue, "I was lost and suddenly… you were there and I … wanted to live again. Another day. Another week. Then the weeks became months and… "She chuckles, "I think we were both lost in a way. In different ways, obviously, but you were as lost as I was. But I've accepted you then. And I would have accepted you in any capacity you offered to me. As long as I've felt alive, it was okay."

McGee feels his eyes pooling with tears, as he hears her putting into these simple words what their love meant to her, "I see. And I'm honored by your trust on me. Every single day."

She smiles between her tears, before she starts chuckling, "besides, we _are_ married."

"What?" he asks in a shocked voice.

"I _feel _married." She notices his astonished expression and chuckles louder, "Don't you?"

He frowns, as he considers their relationship, as she starts listing things they do together, "we work together, we live together, most of the time. Your apartment is just for show, you only use it whenever you have to rest or as a place where you keep your books or your electronics. Your sister is dating, soon to be engaged to, my baby brother." She can't keep her giggling, "I know the password of your bank accounts and my mom buys you underwear."

Gibbs tries valiantly to suppress his chuckle, as he is now sure that the both of them had completely forgotten he is in hearing range.

She shakes her head, astonished as the situation becomes clearer before her eyes, "Can we get more married than that? The big party and the signed papers are just a formality, just to make official what everyone else knows."

"She said it was a sale at Calvin Klein's." He pouts, and Joy chuckles, incredulous.

"In April? Is that the bull story she told you?"

McGee starts chuckling at Maggie's devious ways, "that I was too thrilled to believe, apparently."

She leans back her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes and getting comfortable for the rest of their flight.

"Besides, you will propose to me."

He smiles against her hair, "Will I? Are you so sure of that?"

She punches his chest, and he yelps, "Yes you will."

They stay in silence for a moment before she murmurs, "You will propose once you stop being afraid of what people might think of you."

"I'm not afraid."

She rubbed her face against his BDU clad chest, "Of course not."


	81. A Face from the past

**_Chapter 81: A Face from the past_**

**_EPILOGUE_**

_"Your daughter has a rare gift, Mr. Buchanan. She can see people. She can see **through **people" - Jason Gideon to Joseph Buchanan_

**_NCIS HEADQUARTERS_**  
**_A few weeks later_**

Only the tapping of fingertips on keyboards could be heard on the bullpen. The Major Case Response team was diligently working on their paperwork, thanks to a series of cases they had closed that week. Now they had to type their reports, show them to Gibbs and submit them to the Director.

They hear the ping of the elevator, but they don't turn to it. A man in his late sixties and a thick winter jacket enters the floor, asks for directions on the first cubicle, and slowly walks with a limp on the direction of Gibbs' team. He walks between the desks, nods briefly to the agents sitting, but does not stop, neither speaks to them. He has his eyes firmly set on the last desk, where Buchanan was distractedly writing her report.

He stops by her desk, but she does not look up. So he puts his hand in his pocket, and brings something out of it, and delicately puts it in front of the agent. She is startled by it, and looks down to it.

"Once upon a time," he says, "there was this little girl," she looks up at him and smiles, "that asked me 'how do they put snow inside snowglobes?'" His face is wrinkled with age, and suffering, but there is a sincere smile in his face as he looks at her.

"Do you remember what I said?" he looks at Buchanan with a tender smile, and she looks down at the delicate snowglobe he put on her desk, shakes it and looks fascinated to the small white dots falling on top of the Kremlin.

She answers softly, "you said that there are certain things," she stands up, "that are not meant to be understood," she smiles at him, "or explained, just experienced."

He opens his arms, and she gives him a hug, and they both stay like that for a moment. The team is just watching curious about this stranger who seems to be quite close to their profiler.

He takes a step back to look at her face, and there is wetness in his eyes.

"It is good to see you, Joy," says Jason Gideon.

"It is good to be seen, Gideon," she says.

They smile at each other, and he studies her face. "I don't remember you being that beautiful," she laughs out loud, "really, all I remember is a scrawny little thing with a headful of brown curls and scraped knees."

"If you look a little bit closer, you might see I still have scraped knees, Gideon."

"How is life?"

"Good," she steps out of his embrace and puts her hands on her trousers pockets, "fairly good, lots of work, but that's life."

He nods. Joy sees Gibbs standing up and grabs Gideon's hand and guides him to her Boss' desk, eager to start the introductions, "let me introduce you to my team here in NCIS," she leads Gideon to Gibbs' desk, "Gideon, this is my Boss, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, ex-marine."

Gibbs studies the newcomer, stretches his hand and receives a firm handshake, and he sees that, despite the apparent fragility of the man in front of him, there is a brilliant mind hidden in that frail body.

"Are you treating my Joy well, Agent Gibbs?" Gideon studies this man, and sees strength and character and is satisfied with what he sees.

Gibbs smirks, "always."

Gideon looks proudly to Buchanan, and says, "everything she knows, she has learnt from me."

Buchanan blushes, "I'm still not as good as you ever were, Gideon."

"Bullshit," he waves his hand, dismissing what she said, "you are better," she smiles at him.

He looks around at the other team members, and she introduces everyone, "this is Ziva David, former Mossad now NCIS agent."

"Shalom, Ziva."

"Shalom Gideon."

"This is Anthony DiNozzo," he nods and they shake hands.

"And this is... Timothy McGee, my partner." Gideon turns to look at McGee, and he did not miss the faint pause in Joy's voice when introducing her partner.

He turns his eyes to the young man before him and likes what he find.

Intelligent green eyes look right back at him, and the firm handshake speaks of determination and willingness to make a good impression. He's been blessed with one of these faces that, regardless of his age, will always retain youth but on a law enforcement officer, it could be a problem as few people would take him seriously at first sight.

But here he is, and the brief glances he throws in Joy's direction suggested that their relationship was much beyond the work area.

Joy fidgets a little, biting her lower lip and looking anxioulsy from Gideon to McGee and back to Gideon, waiting for the verdict of her mentor.

He lets both youngsters simmer a little and releases the McGee's hand, and says, "I'm hungry, wanna have lunch with me?"

She chuckles, glancing at her watch, "But it's only ten a.m."

He shrugs, "somewhere in the world must be around lunch time now, and I'm hungry. I've just flown 29 hours and what they serve in the airplane can not be considered food."

She smiles, "Where did you come from?"

He smiles back at her, "there is nothing like Takada Sakura festival in early spring."

Joy looks at Gibbs, silently asking permission to escape for a few hours.

Gideon looks at Gibbs, "may I kidnap her for a while? We haven't seen each other in years and God knows how much we need to catch up."

Joy smirks to Gibbs, "we will bring you coffee, Boss, on the way back."

"Have you finished your report?"

"It has been in your inbox for the last hour."

He looks at the computer, shrugs, "Go, and bring me coffee."

Joy smiles at Gideon, "let me get my coat," and goes to her desk.

Gideon nods and sighs, looks at Gibbs, and silently studies the ex-marine. Gibbs looks at him with the same intensity, and both men have a staring contest. Finally, Gideon takes a step closer to Gibbs, and says in a low tone of voice reserved only for Gibbs' ears.

"Have you ever held the finest human clay in your hands and had the opportunity to mold it into one of the finest works of art humanity has ever seen?"

Gibbs grins and briefly glances to Ziva, Tony and McGee, who are staring at the two senior agents with curious faces.

"Yeah, I think I know what you are talking about."

Gideon grins at Gibbs, and smiles brightly when Joy joins then again, her bag firmly in her hands, "let's go?"

Gideon nods to Gibbs in a small goodbye, and gives his arm to Joy, who holds it as they slowly move out of the bullpen. Gideon has a limp, result from a bullet some years past, and bad knees, and Joy walks slowly supporting him.

"How is your mother?"

"She had an accident a couple of weeks ago, so she is at the hospital for a while. Dad is by her side, until she is finally on the mend."

"Is she going to be okay?"

"Time will tell. But the doctors are conservatively optimistic."

"Your mother is a force to be reckoned."

"Always been, always will be."

"And your sisters? Your brothers?"

"The girls are still FBI. The boys are in the Marines. Johnny is doing what he does best."

"Let me guess, he's exploding things."

"Yes. Same thing with Mathew, he's an Engineer, working for the Marine forces in Haiti."

Gideon stops, "What about you, Joy?"

She looks at him, questioningly. "

Are you happy doing what you do?" He points around himself, towards the bullpen, where her teammates are trying very hard to not eavesdrop, but they are paying careful attention to the conversation between the two.

"Gideon-" she starts, shakes her head and looks at her mentor.

"Don't you ever wish you were doing something else? Don't you ever wish you've never met…me?"

She shakes her head in denial, but he continues as if he hasn't seen her vehement answer.

"I was the one who introduced you to this. The one who taught you how to chase monsters."

He pauses and looks at her, tired of the burden he has carried his whole life. He had lost too much. He didn't want to lose her as well.

"Don't you ever wish things were different?"

"Gideon…" she licks her lips and starts again, "if I hadn't met you, I would be dead right now."

He shakes his head, but she continues, "No, listen me out: when you met me, I was a little girl struggling to understand a foreign world full of strange things that I've never met before, but everyone else took for granted. Nobody really understood me, or was able to fully communicate with me until you came along."

He looks at her tenderly, as she continues with tears in her eyes, "if you hadn't come along, I really wouldn't be here."

He nods, puts his hand on her shoulder and squeezes, "aren't you going to feed this old man?"

They smile at each other, and leave the bullpen.

- THE END - PART 1/2 -

* * *

A/N: YES! I'm done with this one! *dances excitedly around the room squealing*.

This was even longer than Beaufort's Torment. Uff.

I would like to personally thank some people who have been great support throughout this adventure, and I could not finish this story without mentioning.

**_Noraque _**- for giving me the seed of idea of a long dark and turbulent story about Joy's scars. I hope you enjoyed it. Believe me, there's still more. Stay tuned.

**_Laplandgirl _**- for requesting a SG1-NCIS crossover - When you requested me a story in which Jack punishes old McGee... uhm... the bunnies went crazy. My muses started singing and dancing. I might have not gone in the direction you suggested, but man, I really loved writing Jack's envolviment with the Buchanan clan.

**_Watchdog _**- Thanks for your insights on proper procedures in a military environment. You really helped a lot, and every single review you wrote always pushed me to write more! And more! And more!

**_Delta-6_** - my brother in Christ who enjoyed every single mention to the Heavenly Host. Great to know there's someone else out there who also read Frank E. Peretti books.

**_Dolphinsiren is me_** - THANKS THANKS for all your amazing help with proper medical procedures. You are totally awesome.

**_Doc Lee_** - Fellow SG1 and SGA fan, who actually gave me some really nice ideas on how to develop the story (Yes, you did! heheh You just didn't know that until now. *hugs*)

**_Red Dragen_** - a faithful reviewer who has been with me since my first stories about Joy. Thanks!

**_Alix _**- thanks for keeping on reading.

**Tigyr **- *hugs tight* Thanks for all your invaluable help with this and the other stories. Thanks! Thanks! Thousand hugs and thanks!

And last, but the least, my amazing cheerleader **_Danielle_**, (girl, you have to log on so we can chat with PMs... ) who since her very first review brought laughter and encouragement to me, showing me that yes, I should keep writing this series. Regarding your question, it will be answered in the part two of this arch. Stay tuned.

And to all of those who dropped by, read the story but for one reason or other did not review, thank you too. This story was written specially for you.

Next stories - **_Clepsydra _**- Casefile - An ax murderer from Joy's past is attacking again. Will they ever find all the pieces? First chapters already online.

Next stories - **_ Through a glass, darkly -_** Part 2/2 of Joy's scars arch. - Two crimes twenty seven years apart. Two cases that will rock the foundations of what is, reveal what was and expose what will come to be. Major Crossover with Criminal Minds. Stay tuned.

Kos


End file.
